Hamilton 'holds on to hope' with first winless F1 season

Lewis Hamilton completed his first winless season in Formula One on Sunday and then said "I'm glad it's done."

It was a year of fluctuating fortunes for Mercedes team which struggled to adapt to the new ground effect rules.

Although their results improved over the season, the team only won one race. George Russell took first last week in the Brazilian Grand Prix with the title already decided.

Last season, Hamilton won eight races as he lost his title to Max Verstappen. It was his lowest total since 2013. Before this year he had at least one victory in each of his 15 seasons.

On Sunday, the seven-time champion retired three laps from the end of the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix with hydraulics problems as two-time champion Max Verstappen drove to a flawless record-extending 15th win of the year.

Russell finished fifth.

"Of course, it would have been nice to have had a win," Hamilton told reporters, when asked about the end of his streak.

"But one win isn't really enough, is it? I feel like this year, when we got our first fifth: felt like a win. When we got our first fourth: felt like a win.

"And when we got our first podium: felt like a win and those seconds felt like we had really achieved something so I'll just hold on to those."

Hamilton did not finish as high as second until the 12th race in Austin and followed that with runners-up finishes in the next two races in Mexico City and Sao Paulo.

In Brazil, Mercedes claimed a one-two a week before the Abu Dhabi race.

"I always believed, right until the last race, that there was potentially a chance. I think it's so important to hold on to hope and to just keep on working.

"We gave it everything and I think this last race was almost like the whole season summed up...I'm glad