Lewis Hamilton today vowed to steer his world championship challenge back on track in the wake of the worst performance of his Formula One career.

Hamilton followed up his crash during practice by failing to make a proper start to yesterday's Bahrain Grand Prix and then smashing his McLaren into the rear of the Renault driven by arch-rival Fernando Alonso.

The 23-year-old British driver was forced into to the pits for a new nose cone and eventually trailed in a distant 13th behind Felipe Massa, who led defending champion Kimi Raikkonen to a Ferrari one-two.

It was only the third time in 20 races that Hamilton failed to score a point and he dropped from first to third in the championship table, five points behind Raikkonen and two in arrears of BMW Sauber's Nick Heidfeld.

Hamilton, runner-up in the 2007 title chase and winner of this year's opening grand prix in Australia, said: "I have had such a good run in F1 until now and it was almost inevitable that at some point things would go wrong.

"But I think we've got the pace and I know in the next race we will be a bit quicker than we were this weekend. So the confidence is still there. There is a long way to go in the championship and I intend to win it."

Brave words, but in reality it will take more than those for Hamilton to be in contention for the chequered flag when the F1 circus pitches up for the first of the European races, the Spanish Grand Prix on 27 April.

Not only Ferrari are out-pacing McLaren, BMW Sauber are becoming increasingly competitive too. Robert Kubica claimed pole in qualifying and also survived a puncture to finish third in the race and promote his team to the top of the constructors' championship.

Hamilton, having lined up third on the grid, should have been in the mix for a podium place but his race was ruined right from the start when his car could only splutter away.

He said: "It was a disaster. The anti-stall kicked in. Basically, I hadn't hit the switch early enough and therefore we weren't in the launch map and then it went straight into anti-stall.

"Everyone else was then in their launch mode and I wasn't."

Worse was to come. Attempting to make up places on the second lap he ran into the back of Alonso's Renault with such force that the McLaren reared up as it's front wing was torn away. Hamilton said: "I was right behind Fernando and I moved to the right and he moved to the right, and that was it - a racing incident, I guess."

Others were not so sure. There were certainly some within the McLaren pit who wondered if Alonso, who endured a bitter relationship with Hamilton when they were team-mates last year, had deliberately caused the collision by braking when his rival was not expecting it. "It is totally rubbish," said Alonso.

His plea of innocence was supported by Renault technical chief Pat Symonds who produced a computer telemetry print out of what Alonso's car was doing when Hamilton ran into it.

He said: "Fernando was coming out of the turn and accelerating down the straight. He reached fifth gear, with no touching of the brakes. There is no blame attributable to Fernando."

Indeed, Hamilton blamed himself. He said: "I feel like I let the team down. The whole weekend had not been ideal, starting with the accident on Friday. You need deliver the points and I didn't do that."

Bahrain was a Grand Prix to forget for the British drivers. Jenson Button retired after colliding with David Coulthard, who limped home 18th, and Anthony Davidson finished 16th.