Hamilton: I haven't been at 100%

Lewis Hamilton has admitted that he has not been performing at 100% capacity in the two Grand Prix races since his Formula One world championship win at the Mexico GP, but has received support from Mercedes boss Toto Wolff who does not believe his level dropped too much.

Back in 2015, Hamilton won the championship only to allow his team-mate at the time, Nico Rosberg, to win the subsequent three Grand Prix races at the end of the season.

The Brit allowed something similar to happen this campaign as Sebastian Vettel and Valtteri Bottas claimed the flag in the last two races of the campaign in Brazil and Abu Dhabi respectively. Hamilton has confessed that with the title already in the bag, he may have allowed his competitiveness to decline.

"I have tried my hardest to stay on it but I wouldn't say it was 100% of what it was while in the season," Hamilton said.

"You want to enjoy it. I do still try and turn up and do the job but it's not so easy.

"It's clear that something happens once you've won the championship. All I can say is that in the week after I won the championship, I partied a lot. That's what you do. I didn't do that before the other races.

"The energy has not been the same, even if I have approached the races the same. But I'm not worried about that. Next year it will go back to what it was in the second half of the season."

Even though Hamilton did not win the last two races, Mercedes still enjoyed success as it was Bottas who secured victory in the last GP at Yas Marina yesterday. The boss of the constructor team, Wolff, is happy with the season contribution of both Hamilton and Bottas.

"He [Hamilton] is somebody who is very diligent in progressing," Wolff explained.

"I don't think 2015 has happened. He had an accident in qualifying that happened after he has won the championship. And where that comes from I don't know.

"These guys are pushing the cars to the limit. He didn't put a foot wrong all season. I'd rather it happened after the championship than before. Here he looked very good until qualifying and then Valtteri put it all together and I think you just have to acknowledge this was Valtteri's weekend."