Jules Bianchi has apologized to his ART GP2 team for the mistake which cost him victory at the Nurburgring on Sunday.
The Ferrari junior driver led from lap two until the end of the penultimate lap, when he put a wheel on a white line under braking for the chicane and got out of shape. That allowed Romain Grosjean to pass him into the final corner, and Bianchi had to settle for second.
"It was my mistake, and that's it," said Bianchi. "I'm really sorry about that. I pushed a bit, I made a mistake.
"I thank my team because the car was good, I think we improved it a lot even though the track was difficult. But I'm very disappointed because without the mistakes I would have won for sure."
Bianchi had withstood pressure from Grosjean for several laps before the championship leader got past him. He had even survived an attack at the first corner, where Grosjean was unable to make the move stick because the track was wet off line.
It was the second race weekend running where Bianchi had been leading prior to the track drying out and everyone having to change for slicks, and he pointed out that he lost ground again by pitting too late.
"After my pit stop I made a mistake in the first corner and then I didn't have any more gap," he said. "And again [it was] the same as in Silverstone where the others pitted before us, so they were quicker.
"Romain has been really strong, and all the time very close to me, so he did a really good race and I congratulate him and his team."