A bitterly disappointed Lewis Hamilton admitted that he had taken too big a risk at the start of the Japanese Grand Prix, leaving even the British driver’s fans wondering whether he has the temperament required to close out the biggest championship of all.

In his worst case of “red mist” in two seasons in Formula One, Hamilton, who was on pole, could not resist a rash counter-attack on Kimi Raikkonen after the Ferrari got ahead of him at the start. Even though Raikkonen had no realistic World Championship chances of his own, Hamilton lunged past, outbraked himself and was penalised for forcing the Finn off the track at the first corner.

“What can I say? I just didn’t get the best getaway,” Hamilton, who finished twelfth and had his lead over Felipe Massa cut by two points to five with two races left, said. “I went down the inside and locked up and went straight on. If I was doing it again, I’d obviously do it a bit different. But I haven’t watched it, so I don’t know exactly how it went so wrong. My brakes were cold, for sure — it was just too much of a risk.”

The resultant drive-through penalty was greeted with dismay by McLaren and Hamilton. He and the team believe that he is being picked on by FIA stewards this season and Hamilton was furious when he was told by his pitwall team that he would have to come in. “I don’t understand why I got a penalty,” he said. “You’ve seen many races where people have gone to Turn 1, but gone straight on. I didn’t hit anyone or cause anyone any danger or gain an advantage, so I don’t understand it.”

The most frustrating element of Hamilton’s rush of blood was that Massa was well behind him at that point. But it was not long before Hamilton was tangling with the second Ferrari, too. Having all but wrecked his tyres trying to outbrake Raikkonen, which made an early pit-stop inevitable, he attacked Massa on the next lap as the championship rivals ran sixth and seventh. On this occasion, it was Massa who appeared to make the mistake, putting Hamilton’s car into a spin that dropped the Briton to last place. Hamilton accused the Brazilian of a deliberate act, which Massa denied.

Either way, Hamilton had taken another arguably unnecessary risk that resulted in damage to his car. A dreadful afternoon at the Fuji Speedway left him out of the points while Massa was classified seventh. The race was won by Fernando Alonso, of Renault — his second victory in succession — from Robert Kubica, of BMW Sauber, who is 12 points off the lead, with Raikkonen third.

Despite his disappointment, Hamilton was able to see the bright side as he heads to China for the penultimate race on Sunday. “We are still leading and we are still going to win,” he said. “My belief is as strong as ever. Next race, we have to make sure we are just as competitive and make sure we win.”

In a classic piece of Formula One theatre, Alonso, Raikkonen and Kubica were asked whether they believed that Hamilton had been justly punished. While Kubica and Raikkonen said they did not know because they had not seen the incident in full, the same could not be said of Alonso. Hamilton’s former McLaren team-mate, with whom he fell out bitterly last season, had no doubt that the stewards were right.

“I agree,” Alonso said.