Hamilton admits he was "too nice" to Bottas

Lewis Hamilton says he was "too nice" to Mercedes teammate Valtteri Bottas at the start of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.

On the initial get away at the start of the race, Hamilton appeared to be alongside his teammate going into turns one and two but bailed out of a move for the lead.

Afterwards, Hamilton said he had been too kind in wheel-to-wheel combat with Bottas and admitted his weekend had been "under par".

“Definitely this is not our strongest race in the season,” he explained to media after the race.

“This has always been a bit of a difficult race for me. I just struggle here. There’s certain races I struggle at compared to others.

"I can’t really point it out. I got quicker at the end but it was too late by then. I would say a bit of an under-par performance from myself so I just need to work hard.”

“I didn’t get the job done in qualifying, he did. And in the race I was too friendly at turn one and basically gave it to him. He drove a fantastic race, made no mistakes, so he deserved the win this weekend.”