Lewis Hamilton appeared eager to get out of Hockenheim after failing to score for the first time in over a year at the German Grand Prix.
The situation appeared under control for the Briton as he led in the full wet conditions early on, but when it came time to switch to slicks his race soon went downhill.
One lap after stopping he would go off in the final two corners, damaging his wing against the barrier and in the resulting pit-stop would have for over half a minute as Mercedes chopped and changed their decision on what tyres to fit.
A five-second entry would also ensue after entering the pit-lane incorrectly before a spin at Turn 1 later ended hopes of scoring points.
“It’s just been a bad day and a bad weekend, there’s not really much more to say really,” he said after finishing P11.
“It was probably the worst day I’ve had in the office for a long, long time, but you live and you learn. I don’t really know what happened today to be honest but I’m glad it’s over.
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“Me hitting the wall wasn’t helpful and then putting on the slick tyres wasn’t helpful with it still raining, so it was just a combination of things.
“We’ve got more races up ahead so we just have to focus on regrouping and coming back stronger.”
Mercedes boss Toto Wolff later admitted that on a weekend when the team has been celebrating 125 years of motorsport as the title sponsor of the German GP, all the one-off old-school overalls for mechanics and suits for engineers probably were too much of a distraction.
“It shows you shouldn’t fool around with the staff,” an unhappy Austrian told Sky Sports. You should concentrate on the job. We are not superstitious, but we believe in karma. It’s a day to learn.
“I think we have a decent start of the race, with good pace but then you add the incidents, crashing out and tricky conditions, the wrong calls and this is when it all started to go wrong.”
