F1 LIVE: Lewis Hamilton ‘knocked off his perch’ at Mercedes as Red Bull face Max Verstappen backlash

Hamilton is currently sixth in the drivers’ standings in a campaign where many expected him to win a record eighth world title. The British star is having trouble with the car and he has had some unlucky spells on the track.

Most recently he had contact with Esteban Ocon at the Monaco Grand Prix on Sunday and was then held up by Fernando Alonso so he couldn’t progress higher than eighth place. Wolff says Hamilton’s time will come this season, however.

Lewis Hamilton says he is “done shaking” and that his Mercedes car has his teeth and jaw “moving all the time”.

The seven-time world champion has had issues with his car this season, mainly porpoising, and has failed to reach the heights that many thought this campaign would bring. He is targeting an eighth world title, which would put him one ahead of joint-record-holder Michael Schumacher.

But so far it’s Mercedes teammate George Russell who is getting more out of the Mercedes. Russell is the only driver to have finished in the top five of every race this season. Hamilton will have the opportunity to revive his campaign at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix in June but says he needs improvements on the car.

“I’m praying the car doesn’t feel like it does here,” he told Motorsport.com after finishing eighth in Monaco on Sunday. “This was the worst in this car so far because of the potholes.”

Leclerc’s bad luck at his home track continued for another year when rain brought an element of chaos to Sunday’s race, after he had convincingly won pole during Saturday qualifying.

Red Bull took advantage of the conditions to overcut their Ferrari rivals during the switch from wet to intermediate tyres early in the race, and Leclerc’s problems were compounded when he was brought into the pits immediately behind his teammate Carlos Sainz, forcing him to wait.

Championship leader Max Verstappen finished third and extended his advantage in the standings over Leclerc, who finished fourth, as Verstappen’s Red Bull teammate Sergio Perez took victory ahead of Sainz.

“Let down is not the word,” said Leclerc of his Ferrari team after the race, speaking to Sky Sports.

Ferrari began the race with a front-row shutout, as Leclerc started on pole in his home race and Carlos Sainz lined up second. Leclerc’s misfortune in Monaco continued, however, as he came fourth, though Sainz was able to retain second spot.

After Sunday’s race, Horner was interviewed by Slater as the pair stood next to a trackside swimming pool, which the Red Bull team principal pushed the Sky reporter into while sporting a grin.

Wolff has called for changes to be made to the Monaco Grand Prix to make it easier for faster drivers to overtake.

“I think what we need to look at is Monaco,” Wolff told Sky Sports. “If a car can slow down by almost five seconds and hold everybody up, it is just a shame for the racing here, so maybe we can look at the track layout and the things we can do so we are not having a procession or having a strategy game or qualifying race.”

Schumacher lost control of the car coming into the swimming pool section after switching to dry tyres following poor weather conditions. The 23-year-old, son of F1 legend Michael Schumacher, escaped unharmed but that did not stop his colleagues from sharing their shock at the wreckage.

“When I saw the gearbox completely out, it was quite shocking,” AlphaTauri star Pierre Gasly told Motorsport.com. “For the red flag, they took some time, but it was the right thing to do. I was a bit surprised we had [virtual safety car] and not a safety car straight away. But I need to review the race, it was quite long, quite a lot happened.”

Hamilton entered the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix – the final race of the year – level on points with title rival Max Verstappen, and the Briton led much of the race to seemingly set up a victory and title win.

However, the emergence of a safety car late in the race led the FIA to effectively allow a final-lap shootout between Hamilton and Red Bull’s Verstappen, with the Dutch-Belgian taking the win to claim his first F1 title.

Rosberg was Hamilton’s teammate at Mercedes between 2013 and 2016, winning the drivers’ championship in the last of those seasons before retiring from the sport.

Sergio Perez has signed a two-year contract extension to remain at Red Bull until the end of the 2024 season.

The announcement follows the Mexican’s victory at the Monaco Grand Prix last weekend, which saw Perez close the gap to championship leader and teammate Max Verstappen to just 15 points.

Perez joined Red Bull from Racing Point ahead of the 2021 season and went on to finish fourth in the drivers’ championship.

Perez said: “For me, this has been an incredible week. Winning the Monaco Grand Prix is a dream for any driver and then to follow that with announcing I will continue with the team until 2024, just makes me extremely happy.”

It was the German’s second major collision of the season, with his Haas again worryingly breaking in half in the incident.

After a promising debut season last year, Schumacher is yet to score in 2022 and has not been able to consistently match the performance of Kevin Magnussen, who replaced Nikita Mazepin as his teammate ahead of the start of the season.

The race was delayed by more than an hour due to heavy rain showers in Monte Carlo, a decision that has since been criticised by Mercedes’ Hamilton.

The seven-time world champion suggested that weather was not reason enough for such a lengthy delay to proceedings getting under way.

Norris, however, believes the right approach was taken and the race could not have gotten under way on time.