Lewis Hamilton says his form only 'average' so far in F1 2019

Lewis Hamilton has ominously rated his form as only "average" so far this season, despite leading the F1 World Championship.

The five-time champion has started his quest for a sixth world title with four wins from the first six races - his best record at the start of a season for five years - although team-mate Valtteri Bottas has matched Hamilton in qualifying so far this season.

"I definitely feel that it's been quite an average performance from myself, maybe above average, but generally quite average for the first six races," said Hamilton after winning Monaco.

"I feel like I've got the best I could get. I've arrived prepared - the best prepared I could be - but in terms of extracting the true performance from the car, I feel like I've struggled a little bit in these six races."

Monaco was Hamilton's first pole position since March's season-opener in Australia, with the Englishman having gone in to F1's blue-riband event having been outqualified by Bottas for three consecutive races for the first time.

The combination of 2019's new cars and tyres have made fine-tuning set-ups difficult across the field so far this season and Hamilton says he still has work to do.

"I guess that's kind of similar to other seasons but without doubt it's going to improve as the knowledge you gain over the season race by race, particularly with the tyres this year, where the window is even smaller," added the world champion.

"I do anticipate things will get better as it will be for all of us. I hope, at some stage, that I'm able to crack the issues that I've had and get back to the form that I have within me.

"Whether that's the next race or ten races from now, I can't really say but I am very, very focused on making sure I rectify any of those."

SkyPad Extra: Hamilton vs Verstappen in Monaco

5:29 Sky F1's Anthony Davidson assesses the build-up to Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen's late Monaco GP clash - and the incident itself Sky F1's Anthony Davidson assesses the build-up to Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen's late Monaco GP clash - and the incident itself

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