Lewis Hamilton mystified by poor form in recent F1 races

For the second race in a row, Hamilton has been unable to match his team-mate Nico Rosberg after struggling with the handling of the car on Sunday afternoons.

Although part of the issue is believed to revolve around the way the Mercedes handles when running behind other cars, Hamilton is not convinced that provides the full answer.

"Even if I wasn't in traffic I wasn't fast enough in Abu Dhabi," he said.

"Even if I was ahead I would have been overtaken, I just wasn't good overall.

"It was like I had another 50kg in the car, I was just too slow. Just no pace."

While Hamilton believes he could have qualified on the front row if he had not suffered a rear wishbone failure on his second run in Q3, he still questions whether that would have helped him deliver much more in the race.

"Ultimately I am not particularly happy with my performance, but I am very happy with the team's performance," he said.

"The development and hard work that has gone in has been remarkable.

"For whatever reasons, maybe being a new car, I have not got on well with it.

"And really is for me very, very confusing. I was half a second up on my qualifying lap, 100 per cent, and if I hadn't made a mistake and been on the front row, the position would have been different.

"But still, when I get to the race I don't know what happens. I really struggle. For a lot of races it's been like that.

"The car struggles to overtake. The Ferrari passes halfway down the straight, and we might get the smallest window open up just before we get to the corner, but by then it's too late."