Mature Hamilton attempts to deflect blame

Following the Monaco Grand Prix Lewis Hamilton’s body language and the words he told the media were not in sync.

After the race, Hamilton stopped out on track, there was no immediate explanation of why this happened at the entrance to the tunnel.

He then slowly completed the lap and pulled onto the Monaco start/finish straight into his third position. He gingerly stepped out of the car, walked over to the podium and in a complete daze stood in the wrong position leaving both Sebastian Vettel and Nico Rosberg on his left side.

The two-time Formula One World Champion eventually moved over to the correct place, as the German national anthem hit. A thoroughly dejected Hamilton was slow to take his hat off.

He then didn’t really join in with the champagne celebrations, before turning on the corporate personality for the post-race interview with Sky Sports Martin Brundle.

‘The team has done amazing all year long and we win and we lose together, so I’m just grateful for the job that I did and congratulations to Nico and Sebastian. he said on the podium.

It was just a glimmer of the more mature Lewis Hamilton which we have seen over recent years. It could have been easy to lose focus and say what everyone else was thinking.

A monumental c**k-up cost his the Grand Prix.

In the post race press conference with the media he added: ‘You rely on the team. I saw a screen, it looked like the team was out and I thought that Nico had pitted.’

‘Obviously I couldn?t see the guys behind so I thought the guys behind were pitting. The team said to stay out, I said ‘these tyres are going to drop in temperature,’ and what I was assuming was that these guys would be on options and I was on the harder tyre. So, they said to pit. Without thinking I came in with full confidence that the others had done the same.’

The Brit, who has also recently signed a new three-year-deal with Mercedes and has spoken of his desire to be seen as a leader of the team.

With that in mind he perhaps also tried to deflect the criticism away from the team, much like a football manager tries with his team claiming that it was a joint decision between him and the team.

Hamilton added: ‘It was a collective decision between us all.’

But Mercedes were having none of it, absolving Hamilton of all blame.

Hamilton of course only has the information available to him. He should have been told the others had not pitted and should also have been told that there wasn’t enough time to get him in and out of the pits still in the lead of the race.

With that in mind it is impossible to portion any blame on Hamilton.

‘It was our decision to call him in and our mistake, pure and simple; in these situations, a driver trusts his team,’

‘Lewis had driven flawlessly until then and really delivered a perfect weekend, with a stunning pole lap and a masterful race. There’s nothing more to say other than to highlight the grace with which he handled the situation; he was a leader and a true sportsman this afternoon.’ Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff said.