Lewis Hamilton accepted blame for a bad race in Canada as part of a mind game aga༒inst George Russell, it has been sug꧑gested.

Hamilton finished fourth, one place behind pole-sitter Russell, on a very promising weekend for Mercedes at the F1 Canadian Grand Pri🍷x.

But Russell’s late overtake of his estee♒med teammate might be the root cause of an unusual Hamilto🅷n post-race quote, it has been claimed.

H൲amilton called the Canadian𒐪 Grand Prix "one of the worst races” he has driven.

F1 Nation podcast host Tom Clarkson said: “Lewis Hamilton was buoyed by kn🌱owing that he would have the front wing on his car, which he hadn’t run in Monaco.

“He was buoyed, very quick in practi♒ce. It slipped away in qualifying. He said after the race that he didn’t drive a great race.”

Natalie Pinkham replied: “He actually said it was one of his worst races fo♓r a very long time.

“Talk about self-chastisement and the blame game!

“Very publicly shouldering the🍸 responsibility of that. Was it that bad of a race?”

Clarkson said: “No. But was it partl🃏y because Georgཧe had overtaken him.

“And he wanted to get the message out ‘George, you only overtake me when I’m ha𝔉ving a really rubbish race…’

“That’s how I read that.”

Pinkham disagreed: “You are taking too deep a dive into the psychology𝐆.

“Whateve♔r he says, people will spin it. The🐼y say ‘one moment you blame the upgrades, then you blame the team…’

“No, he’s h🧸olding his hands up. Here is a good guy, blaming himself, saying ‘I wasn’t good enough today’.

“I thought it was amazing to hear. Here is a man who doesn’t have anything to prove to anyone and he was still prepared t𓂃o own it, in that moment.”

Clarkson said: “He doesn’t♕ have anything to prove.

“Yet, on Saturday after qualifying, he was saying ‘I don’t u🐻nderstand why the performance ꧟of my car drops away in qualifying’.

“Two weeks earlier 🐭in Monaco, the same guy said ‘I don’t think I will out-qualify Russell this year’.”

Pinkham said: “I feel for these drivers! They can’t say anything withou🌟t being dissected by us! Maybe it’s just a throwaway statement.

“If your wo💞rst race is coming fourth? Then things are improving at Mercedes.𝓰”