Hamilton pulls U-turn, says F1 chances alive

VALENCIA, Spain – Lewis Hamilton performed a quick U-turn on his Formula One championship hopes a day after just about ruling them out.

The McLaren driver said "it's finished really, in the sense of the championship, it's almost over already" after finishing fourth in the European Grand Prix on Sunday.

But Hamilton, who had come under criticism recently, backtracked on his official Twitter page Monday saying: "My team will never give up & I WILL NEVER GIVE UP!!!!"

The 2008 champion trails F1 leader Sebastian Vettel of Red Bull by 89 points with 11 races left. Vettel has won six of eight GPs this season with Hamilton and teammate Jenson Button winning the other two.