Hamilton: Mercedes self-critical after 'very, very average' Canada

The reigning F1 world champion lost his points lead to Montreal winner Sebastian Vettel when he could only finish a quiet fifth a fortnight ago.

But Hamilton said the culture at Mercedes allowed the team to address its shortcomings productively ahead of this weekend's French GP.

"We as a team have all sat down and each and every person have been critical of themselves, including me," he said.

"We come here determined, each and every single one of us, to do a better job. Including me.

"We all can do better, we can all squeeze more juice out of ourselves, and out of the car.

"Particularly Montreal was a very, very average weekend performance-wise. We've got to make sure we are in tip-top shape moving forward.

"We had really good meetings afterwards. There were great discussions where the team was able to be open with each other, and say honestly, 'This could be better.'

"About each other as well, and things that I know I can do better, which I'm planning to do."

Hamilton said nothing is left unsaid in such team meetings, where an open approach was instigated by Mercedes motorsport chief Toto Wolff.

"That is something Toto installed in the team ages ago, and that is something the guys all do, so when they have their big meetings back at the factory they are very, very openly critical," Hamilton explained.

"The engineers can sometimes get sensitive. They are like, 'Oh, you can't say that.' But [it's a case of] 'No, I thought we said we're in that comfort zone, you can say what you want.'

"Naturally, everyone is shedding their blood, sweat and tears to make sure we win this season.

"Everyone feels the pain and ups and downs, but the cool thing is when you come out of those meetings everyone acknowledges, 'You know what, there are things I can do better, now I will do better rather than making excuses.'"

Hamilton said the only thing that mattered to him was not performing at his best.

"Not performing at my true potential, that's the hardest thing," he added.

"It's knowing that we can be better, and we're not delivering when we've prepared and practised and worked hard. In those periods of time is when you learn most."