It's the pits for Hamilton

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Hamilton admitted: "I selected first gear and was ready to go. I thought I saw the lollipop move a little bit but I was maybe wrong — and I let the clutch out too early. You try to be as quick as you can when the lollipop goes up. I tried to anticipate it and messed it up.

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Bad move: A disappointed looking Hamilton trudges off

"It lost me a lot of valuable time and I then just had to push, but I struggled with the balance. I need to step up my game and I intend to do so."

The Ferrari of winner Kimi Raikkonen was just too fast for Hamilton, who was beaten to second place by his McLaren team-mate Fernando Alonso.

He said: "I made the wrong decision with set-up and it really caused me problems during the race.

"Even in qualifying I didn't have the pace I should have had, but it was too late by then to change the car, so I've learned a good lesson."

Hamilton, who is 12 points ahead in the championship table, added: "We've come away with a ninth podium position. I'm the most consistent driver here. I think you have to be happy with that."

Hamilton, who started on pole, immediately turned his thoughts to the remaining eight races.

Britain's 22-year-old racing sensation admitted: "As a team we need to push as always, but we will try to push harder. As a driver, I am still learning. I still have time to improve through experience.

"I've raced here before but I've struggled in terms of pace. We must make sure we get the car set-up right, make sure we keep on moving forward and ideally beat the Ferraris."

Hamilton, who next races in Germany on Sunday week, can take satisfaction from his achievements over the past year. Since winning the feeder GP2 Series at Silverstone 12 months ago, he is on the verge of earning £1million from racing, through bonuses for each of the 70 points he has scored. He is also favourite to finish the year as BBC Sports Personality of the Year.

"His father and manager Anthony said: "It's disappointing, but if this is the worst disappointment I'll take it. Winning it would have been the icing on the cake, but it's good to learn that there are downs as well as ups."

Raikkonen, who has taken eight points off Hamilton in the last two races, said: "I have a good feeling, but we know every race can be completely different.'