Hamilton sounds like a beaten man

Getting beaten by his teammate on a pretty consistent basis now has deflated Hamilton's ego

A forlorn Lewis Hamilton says he only has himself to blame after suffering a sharp downturn in form since the summer break.

While Hamilton's failure to build on his maiden victory for Mercedes in the Hungarian GP, erroneously seen at the time as a turning point in the title race, can be attributed to the stunning turn of speed developed by the ever-improving Red Bull team, less explicable is the Englishman's recent head-to-head record against Nico Rosberg.

Having had the better of the German during the first half of the campaign even when struggling to master his W04's brake system, Hamilton has lost out to his Mercedes team-mate in five of the last six races and been out-qualified four times during that period.

Hamilton's frustration continued in Sunday's Abu Dhabi GP when his race almost immediately unraveled after being squeezed out at the first corner. While Rosberg celebrated his second podium finish in a week, Hamilton crossed the line in seventh, over forty seconds behind the lead Mercedes.

"Clearly, with Nico's result the car is better than what I'm able to bring home with it, so I just want the guys back home to know that I'll keep pushing," Hamilton told Sky Sports F1.

"It's the same in every race so it can't be other peoples' fault. Nico is getting great points for the team, so I just need to work harder to do the same."