Hamilton 'didn't do a good enough job' in damaged car

Lewis Hamilton had to contend with damage to the floor of his Mercedes at the Australian Grand Prix but the world champion declared he "didn't do a good enough job" after finishing second.

Hamilton had to settle for the second step of the podium after Valtteri Bottas got off to a flying start to pass his pole-sitting team-mate and went on to start the season with a victory.

Mercedes revealed Hamilton's W10 would need to be repaired after the Silver Arrows bagged maximum points on Sunday.

"We have discovered damage to Lewis' floor in the area just in front of the left-rear tyre. There is a chunk of the floor missing, but we are not 100 per cent sure why yet." the constructors' champions tweeted.

The Brit offered a frank assessment of his performance at Albert Park.

"Ultimately I didn't do a good enough job," he said. "Once we got through the first corner, it was pretty much done and dusted, so it was about bringing the car home and bagging the points really.

"Naturally I had to pit a lot earlier, so I had a long, long stint, so I just drove super, super under par to try and make sure I had tyres left at the end of the race."

Fantastic effort from the team this weekend to start with a 1-2. Super proud of everyone back home for their hard work over winter to provide us with a car that we can fight with. Great drive from Valtteri, well deserved. Let’s keep this up team @MercedesAMGF1 @MSI_Images pic.twitter.com/GdeGTXEnyq

— Lewis Hamilton (@LewisHamilton) March 17, 2019

The five-time world champion added: "[It was an] incredible weekend for the team.

"We bagged some good points, got maximum, maximum points, so can't really complain."