Hamilton is enduring his most difficult start to an F1 season since 2009 with Mercedes🐼’ current challenger𒁃 proving difficult to tame.

Hamilton has struggled 🦩to adapt to the tricky handling of the Mercedes W13, while new teammate George Russell hꦆas fared better albeit on the right side of lady luck in the opening portion of the season.

Russell sits 34 points clear of his more experienced teammate in th﷽e drivers’ championship after finishing every race in the top five.

Conversely, Hamilton꧂ has finished in the top five on just three occasions but the points standings don’t tell the full story.

Hamilton would have finished on the podium in Australia had it not b𓆏een for an untimely Virtual Safety Car period and his pace in Barcelon💟a was sensational. 

Hamilton’s dip in results has led to so🅷me criticism from formerꦿ teammate and F1 title rival Rosberg.

Hamilton and Rosberg spent four seasons together as teammates with the 🎉latter retiring after winning the 2016 ✨title.

Speaking during the Monaco Grand Prix🦄, Rosberg gave his thoughts on Hamilton’s current situation against Russel🔜l.

“It’s definitely a very tough situation for Lewis,” Rosberg said. “He’s won a race in every season of his career and it looks ▨like maybe this will be the year when he can’t win anymore.

“You can see how the tension is rising and that’s natural. Lewis will obviously start to show those emotions a little bit. Nevertheless, with the experience he has, I think he will eventually manage to keep those under cont🅺rol. 

“Lไet’s not forget also Lewis hates ending up behind h🎶is teammate.

“Even if you’re 11th or 13th he really passionately hates coming iꦓn behind his teammate – it makes him very angry and that also happened at Imola in qualifying and the sprint race so it will put the tension up a lot, especially in the engineering room where Lewis will be pushing harder 🦂and harder. It will be interesting to watch how that unfolds.

“I’ve spoken to some people within Mercedes and they've been very positive about him. He’s super motivated, really pushing hard and let’🌟s not forge🎉t he hates coming second. 

“He does not want to come second to Russell 🐟and that alone is a big, big 𓄧motivator for Lewis.”

Rosberg also reacted to Mercedes’ boss Toto Wolff’s ap🌄ology to Hamilton for the “undriveable” car at the F1 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix by saying: "[Mercedes are] taking the blame themselves and really trying to support Lewis mentally. Lifting him up and saying that it wasn't Lewis' doiꩲng, it's on us.

"It's very smart because it's not quite th🌳e truth ℱand let's not forget that Russell is in P4 with that same car, so Lewis definitely had a big role to play in that poor result.”

Hamilton is F1’s most successful driver in terms of ra🅘ce victories, pole positions and𒉰 podium finishes.

He also holds the record for winning in ever🌊y season that he has participated in stretching back to 2007.

Nico Rosberg’s long history with Lewis Hamilton

Rosberg and Hamilton were childhood🍌 friends and intense rivals during their days in karting.

Starting in 🅰2000 with Mercedes Benz McLaren in Formula A, Hamiಌlton became European champion at Rosberg’s expense.

The duo would eventually make it to F1 with Rosberg making his debut with W🎉illiams in 2006, while Hamilton was propelled into r♛ace-winning machinery a year later with McLaren.

They would eventually share the sa🤡me team as Hamilton replaced Michael Schumacher for 2013.

With Mercedes nailing the new engine regulations in 2014, Hamilton and Rosberg went head-to-head for three💦 consecutive years.

Despite the title race going to the finale in Abu Dhabi, Hamilton claimed a deserved title befo🐲re becoming a three-time F1 champion in 2015.

A resurgent Rosberg in 2016 saw him take the title, benefitting🍌 from s♓ome unfortunate reliability issues for Hamilton, particularly his cruel engine failure at the 2016 Malaysia Grand Prix.

Eve💖n so, some of Rosberg’s performances in the early part of the year and then in Baku and Singapore showed he was a wortꦗhy champion.

During their four years together, the duo collided on several occasions, most notably at the start of the 2016 Spanish GP when both ꩵcars🐻 crashed out.

“We made it extremely d𝕴ifficult,” Rosberg told Sky♌ F1.

“It went to the point that we had a code of conduct, a paper, what we were allowed to do in a wheel-to-wheel battle, even penalties with a lot of zeros on them attached to th💯at because there was no other way. It just got too heated and too extreme.”

Siꦆnce Rosberg’s retirement at the end of 2016, their relationship has rema꧙ined strained with the scars of those seasons still there.