Hamilton: We've lost performance since Melbourne

Hamilton powered to an astounding pole in Melbourne, seven tenths faster than his closest rival. He then proceeded to dominate and control the early part of the race until a safety car intervened and Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel snatched an unlikely victory.

Since then Ferrari have locked out the front row in Bahrain and China, Vettel winning in the desert and Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo outsmarted their rivals to claim victory in Shanghai. Mercedes drivers have yet to win a race so far this season.

Ahead of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, despite the mediocre start to their season Hamilton is adamant that his goal is still the title,"My thinking has not changed, my goals are still the same."

But added, "It is clear from that we are not the quickest. We've lost performance since Melbourne and maybe more so this weekend. We are the second, or third fastest team at the moment so we have some improving to do but that's not impossible."

"I think what this team has shown over the years that we are great at staying united and continuing to power on and keep working."

Mercedes decision making from the pitwall during the heat of battle is questionable. They threw away a sure victory in Down Under, outfoxed by smart thinking from the Ferrari pitwall.

In China, they could have pitted Hamilton during the safety car period during the race there as did Red Bull, but they missed the opportunity to do so and paid the price.

The reigning F1 World Champion finished fourth and acknowledged, "I definitely like I was on top of my A-game [in China]. I came prepared exactly the same as always, I just struggled with the car. Rather than blame it on weather or strategy, or anything else, I just... I was uncomfortable in the car this weekend, well Saturday and Sunday."

"To not have the pace, the pace level that I normally have, I got to take it upon myself to try and figure it out and move forward. But of course, it's been a joint effort, but definitely on my side we struggled more," added Hamilton as the Formula 1 circus heads to Baku.