LEWIS HAMILTON has explained what is motivating him to stay with Mercedes despite another weekend of struggles. Hamilton’s team-mate George Russell has joined fans in already anointing Verstappen as the season’s champion. “We know we are not where we need to be, and we know that this isn’t the right car. Hamilton also dismissed any suggestions the team were closer to the podium than they expected, adding the tyre degradation the team suffered last year had repeated itself. “It generally felt the same as last year [the car]. This is because the winner of the opening race has NOT gone on to win the championship at the end of the season in each of the last six years.

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