Hamilton ‘partly to blame’ for Monaco mess

Lewis Hamilton has now accepted he was partly to blame for Mercedes' disastrous performance in the Monaco Grand Prix and that his “heat-of-the-moment” comments were “not the best”.

The reigning seven-time champion lost the lead of the F1 title race to Red Bull rival Max Verstappen after finishing only seventh in Monaco.

Mercedes then executed what Hamilton has described as a “huge deep dive” after the race, with some “difficult discussions” as he and his engineers tried to get to grips with the drop off in performance.

Hamilton said: “There was no one single person to blame. I was very much a part of the decision-making process and after going back and analysing things there are things I would have said that perhaps would have set a domino effect.

“But we know we could have done better and one race doesn’t define us. Of course, you always try to do better. We win and we lose as a team and we will push forwards and hope for better.

“I think naturally in the heat of the moment you don’t always say the best things. I think constructive criticism is always a good thing, but behind closed doors, and that’s what we’ve been doing.

“The debriefs were great. There’s never any finger-pointing, we just work together, we have difficult discussions, we don’t feel out of place to question people's opinions.

“We spark a lot of debate and do huge deep dives into what we can do better and that’s why we are the great team we are.”

Hamilton as much of a hunter as Verstappen

Hamilton is now in the unusual position of being the hunter, albeit just four points behind Verstappen.

The 36-year-old, however, does not feel he will approach this weekend’s Azerbaijan Grand Prix any differently.

“You’re hunting the whole year, whether you’re ahead or behind, so it doesn’t really feel any different to me," added Hamilton.

"We’re all hunting for that same goal, right? To win races and world championships. I think we’re all hunters.”

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