It was not, despite what Lewis Hamilton said after the Chinese Grand Prix, the first mistake he had made all season - but it was certainly the most costly.

And the almost comical way it happened only heightened its impact.

As Hamilton lost control of his McLaren in the pit lane at about 35mph, he suddenly looked every inch the Formula One rookie he remains.

His stunning performances in his debut season this year have made it easy to forget that he is still only 16 races into his Grand Prix career.

Hamilton may have made in Shanghai the sort of mistake ordinary novices make, but the 22-year-old is no ordinary rookie.

And that made this basic error all the more bizarre, to the point that it is worth questioning what prompted it - and the circumstances that led to it.

Was it over-confidence a week after he dominated in Japan, a race that seemed to suggest team-mate Fernando Alonso had cracked under the pressure Hamilton has exerted on him all season?

Was it largely the fault of a team error in deciding to wait too long to change his tyres?

Did they make that decision together with Hamilton?

If so, was Hamilton’s opinion formed by inexperience, judging he could make the tyres last when, to anyone looking from outside, he clearly could not?

Or did he simply drop it?

It was probably a combination of all those things, and it therefore may force some to revisit the comments they made about Alonso after his crash in the rain in Japan a week previously.

If the world champion cracked under the pressure, then the uncomfortable truth is so did Hamilton on Sunday.

The two incidents, though wildly different in appearance, underline just how difficult it is to control a Formula One car on the limit on a wet track - even in the pit lane.

And they emphasise both how close this year's title race is, and the intensity of the battle.

On balance, Hamilton remains the favourite to win the championship in Brazil in two weeks’ time, and if he does then he will deserve all the plaudits he will undoubtedly receive.

But even though Hamilton's four-point cushion gives him a little bit of breathing space, and makes his job that much easier, completing the deal will not be easy.

History provides interesting lessons in F1, and Hamilton will be doing everything he can to think only positive thoughts.

But he would be forgiven if his mind wandered to thoughts of 1986, the last time three men went into the final race of the season contesting the championship.

Hamilton was not even two years old when Nigel Mansell appeared a locked-on certainty for the world title at the 1986 Australian Grand Prix in Adelaide.

Six points clear of rival Alain Prost, Mansell was driving a conservative race in the third position he needed to clinch the title when his left rear tyre exploded, and with it his hopes.

Mansell had driven brilliantly that year, but so had Prost, and the Englishman's bad luck did not make the great Frenchman any less deserving a champion.

The same would go for Alonso and Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen this season.

What has made this year's championship so enthralling - and the on-track battle so vivid and compelling - is that it is being contended by the three men who are undoubtedly the greatest racing drivers in the world today.

Until Hamilton's arrival, Alonso was certainly the best all-round driver in the world, and Raikkonen, who is coming up on the rails at a pace that will alarm both McLaren drivers, probably the out-and-out fastest.

It is Hamilton's ability to trade punches with these two heavyweights in his first season that has been so remarkable - and which has led Stirling Moss to say, as he did on Sunday, that Hamilton is "the greatest driver around now, probably ever".

Coming from Moss, that is quite a statement.

This is a man who many consider to be the greatest himself, and who to my knowledge had never previously wavered from the belief that the mantle belonged to the Argentine Juan Manuel Fangio, Moss's former team-mate, friend and rival.

That is the measure of the impact Hamilton has made within the F1 cognoscenti - and it at least partly explains the wider impression he has made outside it, with his novelty value, his perceived coolness, his youth and his looks accounting for the rest.

Hamilton may or may not win the title this year.

As it stands, his position at the head of the championship fairly reflects the fact he has, on balance, probably been the best driver in F1 this season. Which is quite some statement to make about a rookie.

But whether or not he wins this year's championship, there will be many more wins, many more titles for this incredible sportsman.

For him, a career that is destined for greatness, and a place among the legends, is only just beginning.