Hamilton accepts they made mistake

Lewis Hamilton

Lewis Hamilton accepted he and McLaren team-mate Jenson Button made the wrong call after they crashed out of the first phase of a rain-disrupted qualifying for the Malaysian Grand Prix today.

After a shower had fallen before the start of the session, the two opted to stay in the garage in the hope the rain would subside.

However, conditions instead worsened as the rain continued to fall and when they finally headed out onto the Sepang circuit, Button spun his McLaren into the gravel to bring an end to his session while Hamilton struggled to find the pace to get him through to Q2.

Consequently, Button lines up 17th on the grid with Hamilton in 20th while Red Bull are in prime position to close in on their rivals after Mark Webber secured pole with Sebastian Vettel lining in third.

"I think we started a bit too late, but we went out at a similar times to all the other top teams, but it was just unlucky," said Hamilton.

"It was one of those days. It's been a good weekend so far, but we didn't expect it to rain any more and it got wetter and wetter and we couldn't get the time, so It will be hard work tomorrow, but I'll do my best."