Monaco: The start was poor, his pit stop disappointed and even the numbers on the pit board provided a slap in the face for Lewis Hamilton at his favourite Monaco Grand Prix on Sunday.
McLaren's 2008 world champion started the race at his favourite track in the third place on the grid and ended the afternoon fifth, the two places lost in the pits. Before the weekend the 27-year-old had been the favourite, but Hamilton left the paddock contemplating a season that now boasts an unprecedented six different winners from six races without his name being among them.
"I really dislike going backwards, but nonetheless we came away with some points and there are many more races ahead of us, so we have to try and keep our heads up and keep pushing. My start was one of the worst I've had in a long time. I just don't understand why it happens when the two guys ahead of me, and some behind, got perfect starts."
"After that I don't know how long my pit stop was, it was quite a long time, but I wasn't able to keep up with Alonso, and then Sebastian got me in his pit stop, and then it's impossible to overtake," said Hamilton, who is now fourth in the championship and 13 points off the lead.
Ferrari's Fernando Alonso finished third in the race, won by Red Bull's Australian Mark Webber, to take the overall lead in the standings while double world champion Sebastian Vettel was fourth for Red Bull.
Both got ahead of Hamilton, thanks to his pit stop being longer than theirs. Hamilton said that the pit board numbers indicating his position and times had only added to his woes.
"The guys holding the pit boards, particularly at the beginning coming out of the last corner, about two or three of the slips fell out and hit me in the front of my helmet. I don't know if it happened to anyone else, but I was like 'This is getting ridiculous', and they kept dropping them and dropping them, and there were some on the floor.”
"I was saying 'Someone do something about it' because my visor was getting worse and worse. They need to do a better job in securing those." said Hamilton.
Hamilton also struggled in the low-speed corners, while looking after the rear tyres was hard work. He still had a better time than teammate Jenson Button, the 2009 winner in Monaco on his way to winning the title that season, who failed to finish due to a collision and a puncture but was still classified 16th.
"At least I didn't do the last eight laps and feel pain for even longer. I couldn't wait for the race to be over," said Button, who started 12th and spent much of the race battling Heikki Kovalainen's Caterham.
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