Hamilton: Austria my worst weekend

Lewis Hamilton admitted the Austrian Grand Prix was his "worst weekend" for a long time after finishing with a DNF following a tetchy race. Hamilton was left furious with his pit wall after a strategy blunder cost him the lead of the grand prix.

Hamilton was not called into the pits under the Virtual Safety Car after team-mate Valtteri Bottas retired as his rivals all took a service, leaving the champion P4 once he eventually did take fresh tyres.

In his desperation to move back up through the field, Hamilton shredded his rear tyres, prompting another stop before a fuel pressure problem ended his race seven laps early.

READ MORE: Austrian GP recap

Both Hamilton and Mercedes lost top spot in the championships, to Sebastian Vettel and Ferrari respectively, and the Brit wants improvements to be made before his home race at the British Grand Prix this weekend.

"This is definitely the worst weekend that I can remember for a long time," said Hamilton.

"I am not going to lie, we're going to have to work on all areas. We can't afford to throw away points. We need to find a bulletproof method to move forward."

Chief strategist James Vowles took to team radio numerous times to issue apologies to Hamilton, but there were no hard feelings from the champion.

"I saw him in the garage, we had a hug," Hamilton said.

"As always, he was brutally honest with himself and with everyone and we could have all done a better job this weekend.

"It's very rare and incredibly unusual for us to have these two DNFs in one weekend. A real shame because we had a great car and were looking very strong, but we will live to fight another day."