Azerbaijan Grand Pri🍰x winner Lewis Hamilton says his 2018 Mercedes Formula 1 challenger is proving more difficult to💛 drive compared to its predecessor.

Hamilton claimed a surprise victory in Baku during a crazy race, despite struggling for pace for much of the weekend and trailing Mercedes tea🐻mmate Valtteri Bottas in the closing stages until the Finn suffered a dramatic race-ending puncture with three laps to go. 

Aside from its dominant qualifying display at the season-opening Australian Grand Prix, Mercedes has end🌱ured a tricky start to the new season as the German manufacturer went three races without a win for the first time in the V6 hyb♑rid era, having particularly found trouble in getting Pirelli’s 2018 tyres to work effectively in all conditions. 

And the reigning world champion believes Mercedesౠ’ 2018 car - the W09 - is harder to drive than its 2017 contender, which team boss Toto Wolff described as a “diva” ꦇdue to its unpredictable nature and fluctuating performance across the season. 

“We’ve just got to refine it a l𒐪ittle bit and make it a little bit easier to drive,” Hamilton said. “She definitely isn’t as easy to drive as it was last year. 🍷So yeah, that’s what we’re going to continue to work to.”

Despite taking the championship lead for the first time this year, Hamilton insists Mercedes rem�🌞�ains behind chief rivals Ferrari and admits Mercedes still has “a lot of work to do”.

“I came out in the lead and honestly I couldn’t believe that I was where I was, that I had a Ferrari behind me and I wa🅰s just praying that I could keep it together⛦, stay focussed and bring it home. 

“We’ve definitely got a lot of work still to do, we still are behind, whilst wಞe finished ahe🉐ad that was due to, as I said, lots of different circumstances getting in the way. 

"Kimi was nearly on pole, two❀-tenths ahead of Sebastian, their pure pace is a lot ahead of ours at the moment. Then, within the race, I’m sure Sebastian was managing but I’m sure their pace also in the race is a little bit up on ours. We definitely are there in the mix 🌞and we’ve not got a terrible car at all, by any means."