Lewis Hamilton fires warning to F1 rivals by rating his greatest start to a season as just ‘average’

LEWIS HAMILTON fired a warning to F1 rivals by rating his greatest start to a season as “average.”

He secured a thrilling fourth win of the season at Monaco on Sunday.

And that, coupled with with two second places, marks the best opening to a campaign in his 13-year career.

But the five-time world champ declared: “It’s been quite an average performance from myself for the first six races.

“I’ve arrived the best prepared I could be, but in terms of extracting the true performance from the car, I’ve struggled.

“I hope I’m able to crack the issues I’ve had.”

Hamilton was furious with his team for making him struggle on the wrong tyres for most of the 78 laps in Monte Carlo.

He got revenge by drenching Mercedes chief strategist James Vowles and chief race engineer Andrew Shovlin in Champagne midway through the team’s post-race debrief.

Hamilton said in an Instagram video: “That’s for putting me on those f****** tyres for 68 laps.”

He is now 17 points clear of Mercedes team-mate Valtteri Bottas.