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Lewis Hamilton’s chances of winning the F1 title were hit when a bad pit call dropped him out of the Chinese Grand Prix.

Meanwhile Andy Priaulx’s 12-point lead in the World Touring Car Championship were eradicated by rival Yvan Muller.

Trackside’s Keith Collantine reports on a disappointing weekend for Britain’s motor racing stars.

Heartbreak for Hamilton

Lewis Hamilton was poised to claim the points which would make him F1 champion when a disastrous mistake by his McLaren team began a chain of events that forced him out of the race.

Hamilton had scorched away at the head of the field in tricky conditions earlier in the race.

But he also wore his wet weather tyres down more quickly than his rivals. By the halfway distance in the race he was clearly struggling – and Kimi Raikkonen easily passed him for the lead.

McLaren chose not to bring him into the pits, even as team mate Fernando Alonso caught him by four seconds on one lap as Hamilton’s tyres were visibly disintegrating.

After another tour on threadbare tyres – losing almost eight seconds to Alonso – they finally brought him in. But Hamilton lost control of the car and slithered to a halt mere metres from his mechanics.

Raikkonen stormed on to win with Alonso second, setting up a three-way title fight at the final round.

Who will win the F1 championship? Have your say on the blog or e-mail us with your thoughts.

Two crashes for Priaulx

Andy Priaulx’s 100th race for BMW was not a happy one. He saw his 12-point lead in the World Touring Car Championship destroyed in two races at Monza in Italy.

Priaulx was taken out of the first race at the first corner by Roberto Colciago. The Seat driver smashed into the rear of Priaulx’s BMW hard enough to break the rear suspension.

That left the British star 23rd on the grid for the second race after hard work by the Bart Mampaey team to repair his 3 Series.

This time he made it as far as the second chicane, where he was once again taken out.

Meanwhile a first and a fifth place for Yvan Muller put the Frenchman level on points with Priaulx.

The title will be decided in two races on the streets of Macau in November – where Priaulx has claimed the title in the last two years.

Trackside video

The last time three F1 drivers fought for the title in the final round was in 1986. Nigel Mansell was leading the championship going into the race in Adelaide, Australia. And we all remember what happened next…

A dramatic tyre explosion at almost 200mph sent Mansell out of the race and gave the championship to Alain Prost.

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