Lewis hamilton reacts to bernie ecclestone ‘hand grenade’ comments

Hamilton trails Sebastian Vettel by nine points after a difficult start to the 2018 season. Just a few months after securing his fourth world title last year, the Brit was denied opening-day

victory in Melbourne by a software glitch and a grid penalty in Bahrain left him unable to challenge. But the most concerning performance of all came a fortnight ago in China where he

lacked overall pace and crossed the line fifth before being upgraded to fourth thanks to Max Verstappen’s penalty. Hamilton cut a figure of dejection in light of the race result and

Ecclestone claimed he looked “fed up” with the sport. But when asked if he had a response for Ecclestone, Hamilton merely said: “Not really, no.” Ecclestone also claimed Hamilton was no

longer the racer he once had been, to which he replied: "We'll see at the end of the year." Ecclestone had been at the top of F1 for more than three decades until he was

bought out by Liberty Media last year. But he is still seen around the sport and is at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix this weekend, apparently happy to share his opinion on the reigning world

champion. "He doesn't seem to be the Lewis that he was before," Ecclestone said. "I don't know whether it's me - but when you talk to him and see him act the

way he acts generally, he's not the racer he was. "He's still very quick, still super talented, still a super nice guy. "But maybe he just getting a little bit tired of

travelling and he's fed up with things." LEWIS HAMILTON: I'M IN DISBELIEF OVER LOSS OF RACE But Hamilton’s boss Toto Wolff brushed off the accusations. "It's Bernie!

He comes in and throws a hand grenade and it's in the papers,” Wolff said. “It's great! But how the news runs these days, we are oscillating between exuberance and depression and

back again. "When things are not going in the right direction it's doomsday and when you win two races in a row it is the 'utter Mercedes dominance destroying the sport'.

Maybe it is somewhere in the middle! "We haven't collectively performed on the level we would have wanted to and in the last races there were three races we could have won and we

didn't. "No, I still see the fire and desire to win very much burning in him. This is Lewis, not Bernie!"