Lewis Hamilton has retracted the comments he made about the Formula 1 championship being "over" for him in the wake of today's Italian Grand Prix.

The Mercedes driver appeared to throw in the towel after falling behind 81 points behind leader Sebastian Vettel, but has now claimed that his remarks were made in the heat of the moment.

"When I got out of the car, I was angry and definitely thought that would be it," BBC Sport quotes him as saying. "But I've been back with my engineers and I'm not going to give up."

Hamilton, who finished ninth in the Italian Grand Prix, sits third in the drivers' rankings.