LEWIS Hamilton admits his crash in yesterday’s opening practice session for the Japanese Grand Prix was the result of ‘‘pushing too hard, too early’’.

Hamilton lost over two hours of development time after suffering the accident when he ran wide at the tricky Degner Curve and wiped off his frontleft wheel and suspension assembly.

The impact required a major rebuild by the McLaren mechanics, and the Briton only made it out for the final ten minutes of the second practice session.

His best time in that session was some two seconds off the pace of fastest man Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull), and Hamilton admits he has made life tough for himself.

‘‘I was probably pushing too hard, too early. It was just unfortunate that the gravel was very slippery at that point,’’ said Hamilton.

Inclement weather may yet come to Hamilton’s rescue.

Rain started pouring heavily over the Suzuka circuit shortly after the end of practice, and forecasts suggest it will stick around well into today.

A sodden track should be a good leveller in final practice and qualifying, but Hamilton admits his accident has left him some way off understanding how his car is performing on Suzuka’s famous sweeps and undulations.

The error was Hamilton’s third in as many races following his retirements in Italy and Singapore, and the 2008 champion is hopeful it marks the end of that dismal run.

‘‘They say bad things come in threes, so hopefully that’s the case,” he said.

Hamilton’s tribulations overshadowed the imperious form of the Red Bulls, who finished first and second in both practice sessions, with Vettel showing the way to team-mate and championship leader Mark Webber.

Vettel won this race from pole last year and is on target to repeat that feat after setting a benchmark time of one minute 31.465 seconds.

Championship leader Webber, who enjoys a 21-point cushion over his team-mate, finished 0.395secs down, with Renault’s Robert Kubica third.

Red Bull’s rivals hope a wet qualifying session could see their advantage curtailed, but Vettel is confident his car will perform regardless of the conditions.

‘‘There’s no reason why we shouldn’t be competitive in the wet,’’ he said.

Webber, meanwhile, reflected on a ‘‘faultless’’ performance from the Milton Keynesbased team.

‘‘We couldn’t have asked for much more. We had faultless running and got a lot of mileage,’’ he said.