Hamilton 'not ready' to win F1 crown this season

Mercedes ace Lewis Hamilton has said that he does not believe that he is ready to win the Formula One crown this year.

After a solid opening three races, where he posted two third places and a fifth, Hamilton was being talked about as a potential rival to Red Bull champion Sebastian Vettel, The Sun reports.

However, despite winning the finishing 12th in Spain and fourth in Monaco and complaining about the braking ability of his car, the 2008 champion admitted that he is not currently in the running, saying that he was taking on a huge challenge this season to help turn misfiring Mercedes around.

Stating that he does not feel that he and his team are contenders at the moment, Hamilton said that they are not front-runners and have not won as many races as necessary, adding that until he and the team figures out where the main problem lies, they will continue to lag behind in the race.

However, Mercedes boss Ross Brawn has backed Hamilton to end his current slump, although he insisted that the Brit still needed time to get used to working with his new team, adding that he is different from his teammate Nico Rosberg, who has been with the team four or five years and knows exactly what buttons to press.

Hamilton, who will race this weekend in the Canadian GP, has recently been eclipsed by his Mercedes teammate Nico Rosberg, who has taken three consecutive pole positions and won the last race in Monaco, the team's first victory of the season, the report added.