Sir Jackie Stewart has defended Lewis Hamilton’s media d♒ay no-show ahead of the Formula 1 Monaco Grand Prix following the death of Niki Lauda.

Former Mercedes non-executive chairman Lauda passed away ear🗹lier this week at the age of 70, prompting emotional tributes up and down the F1 paddock in Monaco.

Hamꦉilton, who posted a heartfelt tribute tꦿo Lauda on social media, was excused from media duties on Wednesday in Monte Carlo as he was replaced in the FIA press conference by Mercedes teammate Valtteri Bottas.

The move prompted ✤some criticism, with Lauda’s former F1 teammate , but Stewart argued the five-time world champion’s actions were justified as he deals with the shock news.

“Minౠd-management is what I lived with and I think it is why I am alive today, because in my day there were so many 💝deaths,” Stewart explained.

“I lost 57 people who were my friends, great friends. In those days you had to manage that mentally in a very strict way and I🐼 suspect Lewis Hamilton will handle it in exactly the same way as I would have done.

“When Jochen Rindt died at Monza, he was a close friend and I’ll never forget it for the rest of my life. I was crying when I got into the car and I cried when I got out of the car but I p🎐ut in the fastest lap that I’d ever done at Monza in three laps.

“Lots of people in the media said it was a death wish, it wasn’t a death wish, it was just removing the bad bit🔯. But the bad bits came back as soo꧑n as you stopped the car.

“So mind-m🅰anagement and just being able to handle it, it’s not being selfish, it♚’s not not caring, it’s just that you have a job to do and you do it. I would think Lewis has got all the skills and talent to do the same.”

Current championship leader Hamilton dominated Thursday practice in Monaco as he topped both sessions ahead of Bott🍨as, with Mercedes looking to continue its historic run of one-two finishes at the start of 2019.

Asked if he thinks Hamilton has additional motivation this weekend, Stewart replied: “I don’t think it is for Niki, it doesn’t need to be for ꧟Niki. He needs to do the best he can.

“Niki was obviously very close to the whole M꧋ercedes team and that’s being unkind at all. I think it’s a question of the person has to adjust to th✱e circumstances of the day, and it is a sad thing that Niki has died.

“I called Niki a good friend and I was shocked when I heard. And as a team, Mercedes-Benz will feel it more than anyone else bec🍒ause they spent so much time together.

“But the switch off time, wꦺhen you get in your cockpit and the lights go out, you are a racing driver and you are driving a car which is the most sophisticated piece of engineering in the🍒 world and to take that to it’s absolute limit, Lewis Hamilton is totally capable of doing that in qualifying and in a race itself, and in the same way that I did.”