Lewis Hamilton blamed himself for a “terrible” Spanish Grand Prix after he finished sixth in Sunday’s race.

Hamilton enjoyed his joint-best qualifying on Saturday and started fifth but quickly came under pressure from Ferrari team-mate Charles Leclerc, and let him through after just nine laps.

The Ferrari driver then ran in a lonely fifth until a slow second pit stop put him on the backfoot in his fight against former Mercedes team-mate George Russell and dropped him to sixth.

A Safety Car for Kimi Antonelli retiring gave Hamilton a late opportunity to make up ground but he was overtaken by the Sauber of Nico Hulkenberg.

“Well what do you want me to say? I’ve had a really bad day and have nothing to say. It was a difficult day,” despondent Hamilton told Sky Sports F1.

“There’s nothing else to add to it. It was terrible. There’s no point explaining it. It’s not your fault. I just don’t know what to say.”

When told whether the team can find some answers, he added: “I’m sure they won’t – it was probably just me.”

Hamilton was hoping to stand on the podium for the first time as a Ferrari driver but instead had “zero positives” to take from Sunday.

He said: “I have no idea why it was so bad. That was the worst race I’ve experienced balance-wise.”

Vasseur reveals Hamilton ‘had an issue’ in last stint

Hamilton’s race speed is usually a strength but he was clearly outpaced by Leclerc throughout the 66 laps around the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya and is now 23 points behind his Ferrari team-mate in the championship.

Ferrari team principal Frederic Vasseur revealed Hamilton suffered a problem on the car before the late Safety Car but did not say what the issue was.

“You are experienced enough to draw a conclusion after the first words of the driver,” he said.

“If you want to create a polemic, you can. But it’s not the case. I think he did 70 per cent of the race in front of Russell. I’m not sure that Russell said that the race was a disaster.

“But then we had an issue on the car the last stint, before the Safety Car. The result is not good, but he did 45 laps in front of Russell.”

Rosberg: Hamilton’s race was shockingly bad

Hamilton has only beaten Leclerc once this season in the races, which came at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix last month.

Sky Sports F1‘s Nico Rosberg says “it’s hard to watch” his former team-mate struggle.

“Sunday was a horrible day for him because he was just slow out there, which is very unusual,” said Rosberg.

“Yes, sometimes he’s off in qualifying but in races he’s usually really awesome and the race was shockingly bad.

“He doesn’t have answers either. Was there damage on the floor? These floors are so sensitive and there can always be a bit there and you lose a lot of time.

“When you don’t have any answers, it’s really tough as a driver then you see your team-mate race their way to third place on the podium. In light of the whole season he’s had so far, it’s a very dark situation.”

The 2025 Formula 1 season pauses for breath after the European triple-header before resuming live on Sky Sports F1 with the Canadian Grand Prix from June 13-15. Stream Sky Sports with NOW – no contract, cancel anytime