Wimbledon champion Andy Murray has an easier job than me, says F1 driver Lewis Hamilton

Mercedes driver claims car performance makes his task harder than winning Wimbledon

Lewis Hamilton is currently cutting a gloomy figure at Mercedes (Getty images)

Lewis Hamilton reckons Andy Murray has it easy because the Wimbledon champion only has a tennis racket to control. Hamilton, in a particularly morose frame of mind, was pining over his lack of a win since moving to Mercedes; his dour mood exacerbated by his break-up from the singer Nicole Scherzinger.

He says the variables which he has to put up with mean his hopes of a second world title are fainter than ever. Unlike Murray, who beat Novak Djokovic to win Wimbledon on Sunday, just after Hamilton had finished fifth in the German Grand Prix, he does not see his fortunes changing soon.

“I’m in a different position to Andy Murray, he said. “He’s been very solid, but it’s just him and his racket. There are so many elements in racing – the car, the suspension, the electronics, the engine, the tyres – that have to be performing for you. It doesn’t matter if I’m in the same head zone as Murray, it all gets taken away by the tyres.”

Hamilton has been on pole position in three of the nine grands prix this season. But, though he was leading his home race a week ago until an exploding Pirelli tyre cost him victory, he has yet to score a win. He believes a combination of new rules on tyre use – introduced in the wake of myriad deflations at the British Grand Prix – their revised construction and the ban on Mercedes running in the upcoming Young Driver Test at Silverstone (following their “secret” test in Barcelona in May) will hurt the team’s progress.

“I don’t think people realise how much of a negative it is for us to be missing the test, Hamilton said, looking ahead to the next race in Budapest. “We’ll be going to Hungary and others will have tested different tyre pressures. We will go into it blind. We shouldn’t be in this position.”

On his title hopes, Hamilton added: “There’s really no point thinking about it – especially as [Sebastian Vettel] is nearly 60 points ahead.”

Domestic matters have also led to Hamilton’s glass-half-empty outlook. He said: “I need to keep myself busy otherwise my mind will wander. Being behind the wheel is still one of my favourite places, or being in the studio making music. I’m more successful in the studio at the moment.”