Lewis Hamilton said he will take some time for self-reflection during Formula One's summer holiday - but he is also determined to have some fun.
It has been a roller-coaster year so far for Hamilton, as evidenced by the past two races - triumphant one weekend, and a case of what might have been the next.
In Germany, two weeks ago, Hamilton drove peerlessly to take the flag and reinvigorate his season. Then in Hungary, on Sunday, with victory again in his grasp, the 26-year-old spun his McLaren-Mercedes, sparking a chain of events that included a poor call on tyres and a drive-through penalty.
Instead, it was teammate Jenson Button who grabbed the win, while Hamilton was 48 seconds down the road in fourth.
"It was a shame we didn't get a one-two, but that was really my fault," Hamilton said. "Sorry for the team we didn't. I'm disappointed with myself, but it's holiday now and I'm going to go and have some fun.
"I'm relaxed, relieved. I'm looking forward to going away after what was a tricky race and getting my head back into gear. I need to have a think about what went wrong, a mistake on the track and other things, but at least the team got some good points."
Hamilton was arguably being too hard on himself as his error was simply one of those things given the conditions, rather than any case of him being aggressive.
As for the "donut" in straightening his car, but which forced Paul di Resta off track and so led to the drive-through, again that was his natural exuberance and not anything hostile.
At least Hamilton can console himself with the fact McLaren have caught up with rivals Red Bull Racing on the track, with the team winning three of the last five races.
"The team have done a fantastic job to get us where we are," added Hamilton, who trails championship leader Sebastian Vettel by 88 points, with Button 100 down.
* Press Association
