Aug.3 (GMM) Lewis Hamilton on Sunday was ruing a tyre puncture but also counting a dose of fortune as he prepared to leave Hungary still with the lead of the world championship.
Prior to the start of the 70-lap race, the pole sitter looked set to dominate, until Ferrari's Felipe Massa leapt from third on the grid to take the lead in the first corner.From there, 23-year-old Hamilton never seemed ready to challenge the Brazilian, who would have cruised to the top of the drivers' charts if not for an engine failure within laps of the chequered flag.Without Massa's disaster, the hit was to be even more damaging to Hamilton's championship charge, after the Briton slipped down the order because of a tyre failure."I think I salvaged the best of the worst," said Hamilton afterwards.""What can I do when I have a puncture? Last year I probably lost the championship on punctures."Hamilton, whose teammate Heikki Kovalainen inherited his debut win, admitted to "surprise" about Massa's pace in the race, and also disappointment at letting the Ferrari through on lap one."I was a little bit disappointed with the fact I let Felipe past. But it's nowhere near as bad as it could have been," he added.