Lewis Hamilton has finally added his own categorical denial to suggestions that finger trouble cost him the world championship in Brazil.
A journalist for the Montreal newspaper La Presse has now admitted to wrongly quoting the 22-year-old McLaren rookie last week as declaring that an accidental push of a button on his steering wheel slowed his single seater at Interlagos.
McLaren figures have consistently explained that an unspecified technical fault in Hamilton’s gearbox caused the car to select the neutral gear.
In an interview with Germany’s Bild am Sonntag, the Briton admits to making a mistake in the season finale.
“Yes, right at the beginning, when I fell to eighth,” he explained, referring to his poor opening lap.
But when asked if the subsequent gearbox glitch had also been triggered by his own mistake, Hamilton insisted: “That was a technical problem.
“I was coasting, even though the readout said I was in fourth gear. But I am not so stupid as to have put it into neutral myself,” he added.
