<p>Lewis Hamilton admitted defending champions Mercedes have no hope of defending their title this year after he finished 14th, three places behind his team-mate George Russell, in Saturday's sprint race at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix.</p>.<p>The seven-time champion was unable to make any progress through the field as he and Russell struggled for pace and performance in the 21-lap contest won by world champion Max Verstappen of Red Bull.</p>.<p>"We are obviously not fighting for the championship this year -- first of all we have to understand this car and improve and make some progress through the year. That's all we can hope for," admitted Hamilton.</p>.<p>"We are all working hard and there are a lot of people in the team who have been here for 20 years - so it's not new for them."</p>.<p>The two Mercedes drivers had on Friday failed to reach the top-ten shootout in qualifying, the first time this had happened to the team since 2012.</p>.<p>"We have to stick together, motivate everyone and keep our heads down and work hard," added Hamilton.</p>.<p>Earlier Saturday, Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff had explained how he and Hamilton had "vented at each other" during Friday's rainswept qualifying.</p>.<p>In a session interrupted by five red flags, which saw the team fail to qualify a car in the top ten for the first time in a decade, the pair were seen locked in an angry confrontation.</p>.<p>Hamilton refused to elaborate on the episode and said it was all "internal stuff".</p>.<p>But Wolff said: "There was no disagreement at all. It doesn't get any closer than the two of us are.</p>.<p>"We were just so angry about the session overall and he vented at me, I vented at him, but it was absolutely about the same thing.</p>.<p>"It was just a degree of frustration that we are not able to generate the grip in the first lap. Friday was all about the first lap and then it was red-flagged and we weren't able to make it into Q3 and it was so frustrating."</p>.<p>Russell said it had been a tricky and processional race on Saturday.</p>.<p>"It wasn't long enough for any tyre degradation so we have work to do," he said. "The car is faster, but there is only one overtaking opportunity here.</p>.<p>"Strategy will be the key for us to move up the grid. Clearly, it has been a difficult weekend for us.</p>.<p>"We over-achieved in the first three weekends and it was very cold yesterday and we were behind where we deserved to be."</p>.<p><strong>Check out latest DH videos here</strong></p>
<p>Lewis Hamilton admitted defending champions Mercedes have no hope of defending their title this year after he finished 14th, three places behind his team-mate George Russell, in Saturday's sprint race at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix.</p>.<p>The seven-time champion was unable to make any progress through the field as he and Russell struggled for pace and performance in the 21-lap contest won by world champion Max Verstappen of Red Bull.</p>.<p>"We are obviously not fighting for the championship this year -- first of all we have to understand this car and improve and make some progress through the year. That's all we can hope for," admitted Hamilton.</p>.<p>"We are all working hard and there are a lot of people in the team who have been here for 20 years - so it's not new for them."</p>.<p>The two Mercedes drivers had on Friday failed to reach the top-ten shootout in qualifying, the first time this had happened to the team since 2012.</p>.<p>"We have to stick together, motivate everyone and keep our heads down and work hard," added Hamilton.</p>.<p>Earlier Saturday, Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff had explained how he and Hamilton had "vented at each other" during Friday's rainswept qualifying.</p>.<p>In a session interrupted by five red flags, which saw the team fail to qualify a car in the top ten for the first time in a decade, the pair were seen locked in an angry confrontation.</p>.<p>Hamilton refused to elaborate on the episode and said it was all "internal stuff".</p>.<p>But Wolff said: "There was no disagreement at all. It doesn't get any closer than the two of us are.</p>.<p>"We were just so angry about the session overall and he vented at me, I vented at him, but it was absolutely about the same thing.</p>.<p>"It was just a degree of frustration that we are not able to generate the grip in the first lap. Friday was all about the first lap and then it was red-flagged and we weren't able to make it into Q3 and it was so frustrating."</p>.<p>Russell said it had been a tricky and processional race on Saturday.</p>.<p>"It wasn't long enough for any tyre degradation so we have work to do," he said. "The car is faster, but there is only one overtaking opportunity here.</p>.<p>"Strategy will be the key for us to move up the grid. Clearly, it has been a difficult weekend for us.</p>.<p>"We over-achieved in the first three weekends and it was very cold yesterday and we were behind where we deserved to be."</p>.<p><strong>Check out latest DH videos here</strong></p>