Hamilton responds to criticism: 'People love to kick you when you're down'

Lewis Hamilton has a response for those who have criticized the British driver and his team, after Mercedes had an extremely difficult start to the F1 season and the team's problems seem far from resolved.

"People always love you when you're up and love to kick you when you're down," he said in conversation with Sky Sports. According to Hamilton, those kinds of comments are also part of life, but it doesn't mean they don't hurt.

For example, the Briton saw a number of 'disrespectful' comments from people he admired as a child. Because of that statement, the analists at Sky Sports think it is not a response to Helmut Marko's recent comments, but to those of Mika Hakkinen. At Viaplay, the Finn wondered aloud about Hamilton's behavior in team meetings and suggested that there would be "a lot of complaining and whining" from a sulking Hamilton.

Those comments would not have gone down well with the Mercedes driver, who says he uses the criticism as motivation. "For me it was just to take it as fuel and turn it into a positive and come back stronger, and we are going to come back stronger as a team," Hamilton said.

Four, five or even 10 bad races, he says, will not stop the Brit from doing what he loves. "I've had way more difficult times than this and I've bounced back. Nothing you say or do will stop me in my tracks," Hamilton said.