Lewis Hamilton was left in a glum mood after the Monaco Grand Prix on Sunday, expressing his frustrations and explaining that he is not looking forward to the upcoming race in Canada.

The seven-time world champion looked to be one of the fastest drivers in the field during the early stages of the weekend but struggled to lay down strong laps in qualifying.

His P7 grid slot proved to be a death sentence with no car inside the top 10 gaining or losing any positions. Instead, Hamilton was forced to stare at the rear wing of former arch-rival Max Verstappen, as he chased down Mercedes team-mate George Russell.

Asked where he took any encouragement from Mercedes’ pace towards the end of the Monaco GP, he told Sky Sports F1: “I wouldn’t say that it was encouraging. I think the signs of performance this weekend have been encouraging and that’s three races in a row we’ve brought upgrades.

“That’s really positive to see, bit by bit we’ve got drips coming through and hopefully in the next race I’ll have the front wing too.”

The veteran Brit was less optimistic when assessing his chances for the race in two weeks’ time in Montreal. “I’m excited to go to Canada,” he said. “I wouldn’t say I’m excited about the prospect of racing there.”

Natalie Pinkham, who was conducting the interview, tried to put a positive spin on the situation, but Hamilton was in a dejected mood. He added: “I don’t see a lot of different… I’ll go to Canada and as always give my absolute everything, and it’s good to see the team are bringing performance.”

The positive for Mercedes was that they put more daylight between themselves and Aston Martin in the Constructors’ Championship. The two teams are now separated by 52 points after eight races.

Unfortunately for Toto Wolff’s outfit, they remain miles off the pace in comparison to the top three teams. While Ferrari and McLaren have taken steps forwards, Mercedes are being left behind the development race.