No points for Hamilton: 'It's my worst ever start to the season'

Lewis Hamilton says he is experiencing his worst year ever in Formula 1. "For sure, it's worse than 2009," said the 39-year-old Briton. Still, Hamilton remains calm and knows that things will get better, he said after his DNF in Australia.

Hamilton started on softs, intending to make up positions early in the race. "I think it went well. I still had new softs because I didn't make Q3. I tried to undercut some drivers. The pace was okay, again it wasn't worldly, but I was overtaking. I was slightly faster than the cars in front of me and then the engine failed."

Hamilton doesn't panic

That happened without any warning and Hamilton stays on eight points in the world championship, enough for ninth place overall. How is the seven-time world champion's mental state after Mercedes' worst ever start in Formula 1? "Surprisingly, I feel pretty good. I think I'm trying to put things in perspective; it could have been so much worse. I'm really grateful. I've really enjoyed my time here in Australia."

He continued: "I still enjoy working with the team. Of course, I would love to fight for wins and finish races. It's never a great feeling when you come all the way here and don't even get half the race in action. But what I know is that we will come back, that we will get there eventually, we just have to keep working on it."

Mercedes not giving up

Hamilton has no intention of giving up, despite the W15's lack of success in Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and now Melbourne. "It's hard for everyone in the team, so much work has been done over the winter. You're excited, motivated and driven and then you think you're going to fight for wins and then obviously that's not the case. Then you're like okay maybe second or third, but no: that's not the case either and it turns out a bit worse. You just keep going, it's a challenge. But I remain inspired by the people I work with. They keep making an effort, giving their all and that's the most important thing."