Lewis Hamilton lamented the "worst" cars, but Mercedes said his driving style wasn't suited to the ground-effect cars.

With F1’s current regulations now in their fourth year, the performance gaps that gave front-runners comfortable advantages are shrinking fast. Teams that were once struggling to keep pace have had enough time with these cars to catch up on the learning curve. (See: Ferrari and McLaren’s surge last year .)

In comparison, Hamilton's former team-mate at Mercedes, George Russell, was spotted sporting an IWC Big Pilots Top Gun Edition Mojave Desert watch, which is worth a 'measly' £10,000 compared to Hamilton's luxury wristwear choice.