Lewis Hamilton 'frustrated' after listening to the team rather than his gut

Lewis Hamilton was not a happy racer after the conclusion of the Turkish Grand Prix on Sunday. The Briton believes he should have "listened to his gut" rather than go with his team's call to make a late pit stop that saw him finish in fifth - three places behind title rival Max Verstappen.

The Mercedes driver, who was leading the championship going into the race, started in P11 after a 10-place grid penalty for a new internal combustion engine. Hamilton made rapid progress in the opening stages of the race and was up in the top five after 20 laps.

The seven-time world champion was even up to third place in the final stages of the race and looked to be minimising the damage in the title race. However, against his wishes, Hamilton was called in for a late pit stop on Lap 50 of 58 that dropped him from a potential third position to fifth, and with the new tyres he was unable to make progress.

"I've just got out of the car and I don't have all the information, but I feel like I should have stayed out," Hamilton said, as quoted on F1.com. "My gut feeling was to stay out and I feel that's what I should have done. So I'm frustrated in myself for not following my gut. But I work as a team, so I did the best I could with the advice I was getting."

Hamilton berated his race engineer Bono over the team radio, saying, "We shouldn't have come in... I told you!" after he came out in P5 behind the Ferrari of Charles Leclerc after his late stop. He was even more frustrated after being told that Esteban Ocon made it to the end on the same set of tyres to finish a respectable P10.

"I think probably in hindsight, I should have either stayed out or come in much earlier, because when you come in with eight laps to go you don't have time to go through the graining phase of that medium tyre on a drying track," the Briton added. "So then I went through this whole sliding phase where I nearly lost more positions. So yes, a bit frustrating, but it is what it is."

Hamilton's finish in P5 and Verstappen taking second behind race winner Valtteri Bottas saw the British driver lose his lead in the championship. The Red Bull driver took over at the front and now has a six point advantage with six races remaining.