Lewis Hamilton: You have to rely on the team
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Lewis Hamilton says he had full confidence in Mercedes when he made the pit stop which cost him what looked like a routine victory at the Monaco Grand Prix but refused to blame his team, saying "we win and lose together."
Having led away from pole, Hamilton was cruising to the flag when the safety car came out on lap 63, when Mercedes called him into the pits. The unusual decision saw him emerge behind Nico Rosberg and Sebastian Vettel and he was unable to get past the Ferrari in the closing laps.
After the race, a visibly upset Hamilton remained gracious in defeat.
"It was not the easiest of races," Hamilton said on the podium. "The team has done amazing all year long and we win and we lose together, I'm just grateful for the job that they did and congratulations to Nico and Sebastian."
Asked how he will respond having lost his chance at a first Monaco win since 2008, the world champion simply replied: "Come back to win the next one."
In the post-race press conference Hamilton explained what happened in more detail and said confusion on his own part may have contributed to the call, but that it was ultimately Mercedes' decision to bring him into the pits.
"To be honest it happened so fast I didn't really know what was going on. It was a good race up until then. I can't really express the way I feel at the moment so I won't even attempt to. You rely on your team and I saw a screen and it looked like the team was out, so I thought Nico had pitted. Obviously I couldn't see the guys behind so I thought the guys behind were pitting.
"When the team said to stay out I said that these tyres were going to drop in temperature and what I was assuming was these guys would be on options, and I was on the harder tyre, so they said to pit. So without thinking I came in with full confidence that the others had done the same."
In the TV pen after the post-race press conference, Hamilton was asked if Mercedes' apology was enough, and he nodded and said: "Yes."