World champion Lewis Hamilton has admitted that he prompted Niki Lauda's bizarre comments U-turn.
Last week, F1 legend and Mercedes team chairman Lauda told Austrian Servus TV that Hamilton trashed a hospitality room after crashing in Baku.
Not only that, Lauda claimed that Hamilton "lied" about his supposedly good relationship with teammate Nico Rosberg.
Yet no sooner had the comments swept the international headlines that Mercedes issued a media statement on Lauda's behalf which totally denied the claims.
Hamilton has now admitted that he was astonished when he read Lauda's comments.
"I was sitting on the beach and was soaking up the sun enjoying my day, thinking 'I've just won a grand prix' and felt amazing," he said at Silverstone. Then I saw that had come out. I was like what the fuck?"
"I sent it to Niki and said 'What's this?' He and the team did a great job to address it but unfortunately the damage was already done.
"People see that and they think it's true - that I have lost my shit. Having come off the win it turns a whole positive into a negative."
Hamilton trails championship leader Rosberg by 11 points going into tomorrow's British Grand Prix.
