Lewis Hamilton conceded that Mercedes are a million miles off fighting for race wins after retirement at the Australian Grand Prix condemned him to his worst ever season start in Formula One. 

The seven-time world champion is on eight points after three races, even worse than the meagre 14 points he managed to start the 2009 season.

Hamilton’s race was run here when engine failure put paid to any hopes of a finish, and he watched his soon-to-be new team Ferrari record a one-two finish with Carlos Sainz, the man he will replace in the team next season, taking victory.

Hamilton is trying not to get too down about things and tried to stress afterwards that he is feeling ‘pretty good’ even in the face of history-making adversity for him.

‘I mean, this is the worst start to season I’ve ever had,’ he said.

Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton is officially enduring his worst ever start to a Formula One season

The seven-time world champion was forced to retire with engine failure before 20-lap mark

Asked if it has been ‘even worse than the last two’, he replied: ‘Oh, yeah, for sure. And it’s worse than 2009 I think.’

‘Surprisingly,’ he continued, ‘I feel pretty good. I’m trying to keep things in perspective, you know, this like, could be so much worse.

‘I’m really grateful. I’ve really enjoyed my time here in Australia, I’m still enjoying working with a team.

‘Of course, I’d love to be fighting for wins and actually finishing races.

‘It’s never a great feeling when you come all this way, and you don’t see even half of the race, but what I know is that we will bounce back, we will eventually get there, we just have to continue to chip away.’

It was a day that went from bad to worse for Mercedes when Hamilton’s running mate George Russell suffered a DNF on the final lap following a crash.

Speaking in the media pen at Albert Park, Hamilton admitted that such poor results are demoralising for everyone involved in the Mercedes team.

‘I think it’s tough on the spirit,’ Hamilton said.

‘I think for everyone in the team, when so much work is going on throughout the winter for everybody, you come in excited, motivated and driven, and then you’re with the mindset that you’re going to be fighting for wins.

‘And then obviously that’s not the case. And then you’re like, ‘Okay, maybe second, third’. No, it’s not the case, and it cascades a bit further down. And you just go through the motions. It’s challenging.

‘But I continue to be inspired by the people I’ve worked with. They continue to put in the effort and show up and that’s the most important thing.’

Mercedes’ woes continued when George Russell sorted a final lap DNF after hitting the barrier

His car was left in a bad way as he hunted down Fernando Alonso at the Australian Grand Prix

The Brit added: ‘I think it’s easy to get caught up in the moment and be focused on this one thing but the bigger picture is definitely the focus of the moment, and also just realising that you can’t control everything.

‘Like you get frustrated because you don’t have control, you can just let go and just be in the moment and that’s really… it’s not great, I’m not happy, but I’m gonna have a great day tomorrow.’

A Mercedes spokesperson went on to confirm that it was a power-unit failure that caused Hamilton’s early DNF before the 20-lap mark.

Now attention turns to the Japanese race next up where they will look to finally ignite their season.