At the best of times, fending off an eager youngster by the name of Max Verstappen for over 50 laps would be seen as a monumental achievement... doing it on tyres that are dead, while your rival is on more durable hards, and you are still mourning the loss of a close friend is something else entirely.

For lap after lap Hamilton soaked up the pressure, constantlyon guard as he awaited an attack he knew was coming, all the while ensuring he got it inch-perfect on a track that punishes the slightest mistake.

Despite all that however, having taken a victory that would have delighted his late chairman, Hamilton described his performance in Monaco, and that of the previous five races, of which he has won three, as "average", warning his rivals that he can do better.

"I definitely feel that it's been quite an average performance from myself, maybe above average but generally quite average for the first six races.

"I feel like I've got the best I could get," he continued. "I've arrived prepared - the best prepared I could be - but in terms of extracting the true performance from the car, I feel like I've struggled a little bit in these six races.

"I guess that's kind of similar to other seasons," he added, "but without doubt it's going to improve as the knowledge you gain over the season race by race, particularly with the tyres this year, where the window is even smaller and maximising... I do anticipate things will get better as it will be for all of us.

"I hope, at some stage, that I'm able to crack the issues that I've had and get back to the form that I have within me. Whether that's the next race or ten races from now, I can't really say but I am very, very focused on making sure I rectify any of those.

"Our race performance generally was very, very strong," he said of Monaco. "Obviously we were on the wrong tyres, so strategically we could have done a better job, without doubt.

"We don't always get that perfect and on today's case, I think we'll definitely learn from it and what doesn't break you only makes you stronger so I think going into the next race, a lot of analysis will be made and particularly towards trying to understand the tyres better and deliver better in terms of our processes and on my side, trying to work even better with my engineers to try and extract more from my car.

"That means Bono and Marcus and a lot of the engineers trying to extract more information from ERS and positioning the information in the right way so I can deliver more from this car. And also I know the guys back at the factory are working on developments, so obviously at the next race I think we will probably have a new engine by the next race, so the car will continue to move forwards as we will."

Check out our Sunday gallery from Monaco, here.

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READERS COMMENTS

1. Posted by imejl99, 28/05/2019 6:50

"@USA1
That would have been on any other track then Monaco the tyre choice would be different. I strongly oppose to your "pure luck" description, I think it was pure skill. With those cars that lose rear quite easily, on spent rubber to slide like he did for over 30 laps between the walls, you have to acknowledge and respect that.

I am not a fan, and I was rooting against him, but that wasn`t luck.
"

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2. Posted by USA1, 27/05/2019 21:15

"That would have been on any other track then Monaco the youngster would have past you, this was pure luck it happened in Monaco where it’s about impossible to pass anywhere!"

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"Average" Hamilton warns he can do better

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