Hamilton doesn't 'fully understand' how he lost Australia GP

Lewis Hamilton has revealed that he is still waiting on a full explanation from his team as to why a software 'bug' cost him victory against Sebastian Vettel in the Australia Grand Prix, and has lamented the continuous use of "data" to dictate the strategy of drivers.

The Brit took Pole and seemed poised to cruise to another Grand Prix win, but the introduction of the VSC allowed Vettel to take advantage of a pit to go ahead and overtake Hamilton before winning. In the Mercedes camp, the failure has been attributed by boss Toto Wolff as a 'software bug', but Hamilton says he has not received a complete explanation from the tech team.

"I don't fully understand at the moment," Hamilton said.

"They don't fully understand it still so they couldn't give me the exact reason to why it was the way it was. I can't really say how I feel about it but it's never easy to lose a grand prix. There was just so many positives to take away from this weekend.

"In the race, I had extra tools to... I could have been further ahead by the first pit stop, I could have been further ahead after the... there were so many good things we could have done. If one thing is telling you one thing and you think you're doing it to the book and within the limits then there's nothing you can do."

In the modern era of Formula One, data is used extensively to dictate how driver's should strategise their performance during races, but Hamilton wishes he was in an era where the tactics could be in his own head rather than ruled by facts and figures.

"Definitely, definitely," the 2017 world champion responded when asked if he would prefer to drive without much data input.

"I mean it's such a team effort but when you're relying on so much computers, so much data, so much technology to come up with the strategy or whatever it may be, I wish it was more in my hands because I feel I was driving as good as ever today.

"I was really, really happy with how I was driving. Anyways, I will take that onto the next race, apply it exactly the same as I have this weekend and try to grow, try to grow within myself."

The next GP race of the season takes place in two weeks in Bahrain.