LEWIS HAMILTON was blasted as “childish and stupid” by ex-Formula One driver Martin Brundle.
And after a bonkers week in which the Mercedes man tried to live real life through social media, the three-time champion is struggling for likes.
Someone at Mercedes really needs to give Hamilton a poke because he is in danger of having his superb talent forgotten amid all the carry-on he is creating purely himself.
As the drivers revved up for yesterday’s Japanese Grand Prix, Sky Sports F1 pundit Brundle said: “Instead of focusing on the world championship, he seems to be focusing on an app that puts bunny ears on people. It’s childish and stupid.
“What’s going to be interesting is if it will be a driving force, or is his focus wrong?
“Nico Rosberg is sitting there with none of this going on. We will find out in the next few hours.” And boy, did we find out.
If Hamilton spent half as much time practising a quick getaway on the grid as he does on Snapchat, then he would not find himself 33 points behind Rosberg.
Hamilton completely lost his head and his power when the lights went out at Suzuka.
A damp patch on the track near his starting position on the front row was clearly on his mind.
And behind him, Daniel Ricciardo in his Red Bull and Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel showed lightning-quick reactions to prevent a multi-car pile-up and rear-ending the Brit.
At the first corner, hapless Hamilton was already down to eighth from second and he trailed Rosberg by a mammoth 5.5 seconds after the first lap.
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The devastated driver said over the radio to his team: “Sorry guys.” They replied: “No stress, Lewis.”
But stressful is what the whole weekend has been for the team who have had to spend all their efforts fire-fighting for Hamilton.
He gradually climbed through the field, even passing FOUR drivers on one lap — but he was never going to catch Rosberg, whose win sealed the constructors’ title for Mercedes.
A wheel-to-wheel, final-lap battle with second-placed Max Verstappen then saw Hamilton embroiled in another feud with his team.
Merc bosses lodged a protest at the result in an attempt to get their driver bumped up to second, as they felt Red Bull’s Verstappen pulled an unfair move on their man.
But Hamilton took to Twitter to insist: “There is no protest from either myself or Mercedes. One idiot said we have but it’s not true.” That was deleted and Hamilton wrote: “There is no protest from myself. Just heard the team had but I told them it is not what we do. We are champions, we move on. End of!”
Mercedes officially withdrew the complaint after being informed the appeal would not be heard until the US GP in a fortnight’s time.
Meanwhile, the championship is now out of Hamilton’s hands — and perhaps his phone should be, too.
Even if he wins the final four races, Rosberg can still clinch the title with three second-place finishes and one third spot.
Hamilton’s die-hard fans claim the German manufacturers want one of their own to win the title.
That is nonsense — but everyone else in F1 will want Rosberg to be champ if Hamilton does not snap out of his role as chief chump.
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