Mercedes: All we can do is apologise

Hamilton was robbed of victory in Monaco when his Mercedes team mistakenly thought it could pit him for fresh tyres during a safety car period without losing position.

Having got its maths wrong, Hamilton emerged from the pits behind Nico Rosberg and Sebastian Vettel and was unable to make any progress.

Mercedes has openly admitted that it got it wrong, but knows there is nothing it can do to make it up to Hamilton.

Toto Wolff, Mercedes motorsport boss, said: “We win and we lose together and this one goes on the team

“I apologised and that’s probably the only thing we can do. He’s a great leader and a great driver and I am sure he will understand that sometimes we make errors and this was such a situation.”

Mental strength a bonus

Although Hamilton was distraught after the race, Wolff thinks that his pain will not last long and that he will be back to full strength at the next event in Canada.

“He has such mental strength and is on a roll,” he said. “It must be very sore to lose that one because it was his to win, but I have no doubt he will recover as quickly as he always does.”

Payback not possible

Wolff also made it clear that there was no consideration being given to setting up some circumstances to pay Hamilton back for the error.

At the 1998 Australian Grand Prix, McLaren famously asked David Coulthard to move aside for Mika Hakkinen after he had lost the lead following a mistaken drive through the pits.

When Wolff was asked if Rosberg could be requested to do something similar in the future, he made it clear: “You would want me to do this? No.”