Hamilton: Crash just a part of life as Alonso claims second win

Lewis Hamilton refused to blame Pastor Maldonado for the crash which cost him a podium finish at the European Grand Prix. 

The McLaren driver was headed for an important third-place finish in Valencia before Maldonado crashed into him while trying to pass on the penultimate lap. 

 The incident helped Michael Schumacher to his first podium finish since returning to Formula One, while Fernando Alonso became the first driver to win two races this season. 

 Alonso moved 20 points clear atop the drivers' standings after his win and Hamilton's failure to finish, but the 2008 world champion was not critical of Maldonado. 

My tyres were gone. I don't know where I would have finished. 

Over the last lap or so, my tyres just went - it was almost like I had flat tyres at the back," he said. "You never let people past, you've got to race for every position you can get. 

I don't really know what happened, if I'm honest. 

I went into the corner and I didn't come out. "It happened so fast, I really do not remember what happened. All I remember is sitting in the wall with only a lap to go. 

You put your heart and soul into some things, and when you don't get the results that you feel you worked for, it's very tough, but that's life. 

Maldonado, who finished 10th but received a 20-second penalty for the collision and consequently dropped to 12th, blamed Hamilton for the crash. 

He tried to put me off the track. He didn't leave any room for me to stay on and do the corner side by side. 

I jumped over the kerb and I couldn't avoid the accident," the Williams driver said. 

I don't know why he drove like that. 

He was struggling too much with the tyres. He was completely lost and at that moment I was getting very good pace. He tried a very aggressive move on me.

Hamilton's McLaren team-mate Jenson Button bemoaned a lack of luck after finishing eighth in an entertaining race during which drivers struggled with their tyres. 

It was a really difficult race to read. Obviously I got a terrible start and I think I was 14th after the start. I just got unlucky," Button said. 

We had a strategy in mind, but nobody seemed to be able to look after the tyres. 

It just seemed that if you pushed like hell, destroyed your tyres and just kept coming in and getting new tyres - that was the way to go. 

Normally that wouldn't be because you can't get past people here. "I don't think we did a bad job in terms of strategy, but I think a few people lucked into their strategies at the end there when they put new tyres on with 10 laps to go and nearly won the race."

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