Lewis Hamilton doesn't often appear to publicly lose his cool, but former F1 driver Damon Hill thinks that the seven-times World Champion's demeanour slips a bit during difficult weekends like the Monaco Grand Prix. Mercedes endured a tough race in Monte Carlo; not only was Valtteri Bottas forced to retire when a wheel became stuck on his car during a pit stop, but Hamilton finished down in seventh after being unable to work his way through the field. Hamilton voiced his frustration at the team over the radio during the Grand Prix and also said afterwards that they had a lot to learn from the weekend. Hill believes that these occasions cause Hamilton to become more "awkward". "Lewis was slightly long in the face this weekend," the 1996 Formula 1 World Champion told the F1 Nation podcast. "When it doesn't go well, he kind of looks a bit embarrassed and gets a bit awkward, and he put a bit of pressure back on the team, didn't he? Saying that 'we need to do a kind of debrief behind closed doors, but I'll be giving them a rollicking', is what he said I think." Whilst Bottas had to retire from the race, the Finn had previously been running much closer to the front than Hamilton, and Hill thinks that Bottas seemed to be adapting better to the team's struggles than Hamilton. "They [Mercedes] didn't get their car working [in Monaco], much to the upset of Lewis," Hill explained. "Valtteri didn't do too badly to get it up there, so he got something out of it, but Lewis... Something didn't click with Lewis this weekend." Mercedes might have had a tough weekend in Monte Carlo but, given their previous form throughout the first four races of the season, the team will clearly be aiming to bounce back at the forthcoming Azerbaijan Grand Prix.
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