My pit blunder cost us a win says Lewis

Conte tries to take heat off Blues as title race ignites

LEWIS HAMILTON took responsibility for failing to win the Bahrain Grand Prix as rival Sebastian Vettel moved seven points clear in the title race.

Mercedes driver Hamilton was handed a five-second time penalty for deliberately driving slowly in the pit lane to block rivals also coming in ANTONIO CONTE took the blame as a lacklustre Chelsea let Tottenham back into the Premier League title race.

A 2-0 defeat by Manchester United – their second loss in four matches – left the Blues only four points ahead of Spurs with six games remaining.

But Conte attempted to take the heat off his players by taking responsibility for a sub-standard performance in which Chelsea, who were 10 points ahead of Spurs on April 1, failed to muster an effort on target.

He “We play said: didn’t a good to pit. That made his job chasing down Vettel – who had earlier overtaken Valtteri Bottas, Hamilton’s team-mate who started on pole – that much harder.

And the Briton, right with Vettel, simply ran out of time. “The pit lane was my fault so apologies to the team,” he said. “Of course the disappointment is there. Losing points when we could have won the race is painful, but it is what it is.”

After securing the 44th win of his career, Vettel said: “Lewis was a threat in the end. It is a long year. I game and United deserved to win. They showed more desire, more ambition, more motivation. “In this case the fault is with the coach. The coach was not able to transfer the right concentration, desire, ambition to win. “We have to think that there are six finals from now until the end. “The league is open and we have a 50 per cent opportunity to win the league.” Conte says he is worried that Spurs, who have now won six on the bounce, was a bit down yesterday because the gap was so big in qualifying but right from the first lap today I found the car was there.

“The Easter hunt was on, so I’m really, really happy.” CHELSEA TOTTENHAM LIVERPOOL MAN CITY MAN UTD EVERTON P W D L F A PTS 32 24 3 5 65 27 75 32 21 8 3 68 22 71 33 19 9 5 69 40 66 32 19 7 6 63 35 64 31 16 12 3 48 24 60 33 16 9 8 60 37 57