Lewis Hamilton issues new statement as Mercedes 'respond to quit threat'

Lewis Hamilton has issued a new statement after his "disastrous" weekend at the . 's dismal 10th place finish was followed by the seven-time world champion suggesting he may have , something that his team have now admitted took them by surprise.

On the 16th anniversary of winning his first world title with McLaren in Brazil, the 39-year-old reached breaking point with . Hamilton, who announced in February that he , finished 11th in the F1 Sprint and qualified 16th for the race at Interlagos, before starting down in 14th.

He repeatedly criticised the car and, during his warm-down lap, audio released after the race appeared to show him hinting he was ready to put all of his recent misery with the Silver Arrows behind him. Hamilton told his engineers over the team radio: "That was a disaster of a weekend guys.

"But thank you for continuing to try. Great job from the guys at the pitstop. If this is the last time that I get to perform, it's a shame it wasn't great, but grateful for you."

F1 takes a break now for a few weeks before returning to Las Vegas ahead of the final three races, with many fans speculating that Hamilton will step down even before the end of the season. Others suggested that the Brit was simply referring to a change of pit crew for the concluding three races in Las Vegas, Qatar and Abu Dhabi.

Mercedes, however, were reportedly surprised by Hamilton's post-race message. reports that the team insisted there were no plans for Hamilton to step down for the final triple-header.

Hamilton, who joined the Brackley-based team in 2013 and formed the most successful driver-team partnership in the sport's history, has now opened up once more about his grim weekend, labelling it "devastating".

"It is devastating to have these bad races in the second half of the season," Hamilton told the media. "But all I can say is that we're trying coming into the weekends, but it is definitely not acceptable, it is definitely not good enough.

"We have to take accountability, I have to take accountability, but I am driving and doing the best with what I have got. The car has been the worst [in Brazil], and I don't know what it is, we're going to have to find out what it is.

"But the mechanics did a great job in getting here and doing practice stops at 4am, and with all the work they've done on the car throughout the weekend, one of the cars was working a lot better, so there is obviously potential."