Hamilton's crash gives rivals hope

SHANGHAI, China -- Championship leader Lewis Hamilton spun out of the Chinese Grand Prix to send the world title race to a cliffhanger finale in Brazil on October 21.

Rookie Hamilton can still clinch the crown with third place in the closing race, but saw his 12-point lead cut to four by McLaren team-mate Fernando Alonso in Shanghai.

The Spaniard finished second behind Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen, who also kept his title hopes alive by moving within seven points of Hamilton.

The young Briton started the race in pole position and at one stage led Raikkonen by more than eight seconds as he again showed superb skills in the wet conditions.

However, the 22-year-old stayed out on the drying track too long in his wet tires, which deteriorated at an alarming rate to let Finland's Raikkonen take the lead.

And when Hamilton -- who won in Japan last week to give himself the chance of clinching the title this weekend -- finally headed toward the pit lane, he spun out onto the gravel to end his chances with 25 laps to go.

Raikkonen and Alonso both switched to dry tires on the 32nd of the 56 laps, with the Finn going on to win by by 9.8 seconds for his fifth victory this season -- one more than both Hamilton and Alonso.

Raikkone's team-mate Felipe Massa was third, while fourth place was claimed by Toro Rosso's Sebastien Vettel, who was last week reprimanded for causing an accident in Japan behind the safety car while Hamilton was cleared of any wrongdoing.

Britain's Jenson Button was fifth in a Honda ahead of Vettel's team-mate Vitantonio Liuzzi, while Germany's Nick Heidfeld was seventh for BMW Sauber and David Coulthard of Scotland took the final point for Red Bull.

Hamilton was still confident he could bounce back after suffering his first retirement of the season.

"I'm sorry for the team but I can still do it, don't worry," he said. "When I got out of the car I was just gutted because it was my first mistake all year, and to do it on the way into the pits was not something I usually do.

"You cannot go through life without making mistakes. But I am over it and we look forward to Brazil. The team will be working hard to make sure the car is quick enough there, and we still have points in the bag.

"We were having a great race and we didn't know if it was going to rain or not. The tyres were getting worse and worse and you could almost see the canvas underneath. When I came into the pits it was like ice, I couldn't do anything about it."

McLaren boss Ron Dennis refused to blame his driver or his team for the spin-off.

"It's too extreme to say anyone made a mistake in this. It has been a very competitive season between our drivers and it will go on for another Grand Prix," Dennis said.

"I don't think we did anything dramatically wrong and neither did Lewis. But the circuit was considerably drier than the pit lane entrance. That's what made the difference.

"It was easy to say that we could have stopped earlier, but would it have made a difference? All the top teams -- Ferrari and ourselves -- were trying to get through the rain and straight onto a dry tire."

Alonso, who qualified for the race in fourth, is seeking to become the third driver to win three world titles.

"The result was good today and the eight points are a help for sure," he said. "I think the championship will still be very difficult because I know it will not be easy to take four points from Lewis.

"I need something dramatic if I want to win. With a normal race it will be impossible."

Raikkonen added: "We are back in the championship and it will be interesting in the final race.

"Hopefully the car is good and it will be a battle all weekend. It is not just up to us though, we saw today that anything can happen, but we are back in the championship." E-mail to a friend

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