The seven-time Formula 1 world champion crashed heavily during the final practice session, leaving Ferrari with extensive repairs before qualifying.
Although the team managed to rebuild the car, Hamilton said the damage had a lasting impact on his weekend.
“I take full responsibility for the fourth place I ended up getting,” Hamilton said.
“I damaged the car and when they rebuilt it, they missed something on the suspension. The balance was completely different, so I was probably two or three tenths slower than I should have been in qualifying.”
Hamilton qualified sixth before a chaotic race brought even more setbacks. He made contact with former Mercedes teammate George Russell on the opening lap and was handed a five-second time penalty.
His afternoon nearly became even more costly when he almost hit a Ferrari mechanic while leaving the pits after serving the penalty. The mechanic was still making an adjustment to the front wing when the pit exit light turned green, prompting a post-race investigation into an unsafe release.
“The green light came on, so I went,” Hamilton explained.
“That’s probably more on the team than me. As soon as I saw him, I stopped. My heart sank for a second, but I’m just glad he is OK.”
Despite the incidents, Hamilton praised Ferrari’s progress and believes the team had the pace to fight for victory without the problems that followed his practice crash.
“The team have been doing a great job with strategy and pit stops,” he said.
“We’re continuing to improve the car and I think, without the damage, we could have been challenging for the win. It’s encouraging because we’ve got more upgrades coming and the car is moving in the right direction.”
Hamilton also admitted he needs to improve ahead of the next race.
“There is still a long way to go and I’m going to step up my focus levels for next week.”
Hamilton crossed the line fourth behind race winner Kimi Antonelli of Mercedes, Ferrari teammate Charles Leclerc and Red Bull’s Max Verstappen. The result lifted him to second in the Formula 1 drivers’ championship, although he remains 45 points behind Antonelli.
