LEWIS HAMILTON nearly backed off while still a lap away from his third win in a row yesterday after the chequered flag was waved early in a blunder that led to a post-race revision of the results of the China Grand Prix.
"That was very strange. I was thinking 'Am I seeing things?'," the Mercedes driver said. "I was coming across the line expecting to do another lap and all of a sudden I looked for a split second and I saw the flag.
"I lifted for a second and I saw there was no-one on the pit wall, so then I just kept going."
The error led to the 56-lap race being shortened by two laps in accordance with the sport's technical regulations with the running order as it stood on lap 54 declared official.
The adjustment had no impact on those scoring points, but Caterham's Kamui Kobayashi was moved back a place to 18th after he passed back-of-the-grid Marussia rival Jules Bianchi on what should have been the last lap.
"It's a shame that my move on the last lap doesn't count due to the mistake with the flag, something we had nothing to do with," said the Japanese.
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