Mercedes F1 driver Lewis Hamilton goes on Snapchat during press conference

Mercedes Formula 1 driver Lewis Hamilton appeared distracted during Thursday's pre-race press conference as he took pictures on mobile app Snapchat.

The 31-year-old was joined by five other drivers to face the assembled media ahead of this weekend's Japanese Grand Prix.

During the conference, Hamilton played on his phone, taking pictures of himself and his fellow drivers in front of the journalists and TV cameras.

When asked by a reporter what he was doing on his phone, Hamilton replied: "Just some snaps of us drivers, it's quite funny. Hey man, we've been doing this a long, long time and it's the same each time. We've got to keep adding new things to it."

Hamilton entertaining himself on Snapchat during the press conference. He showed his phone to Raikkonen but Raikkonen seemed unimpressed... pic.twitter.com/PWsIciKrXs

— F1 Fanatic (@f1fanatic_co_uk) October 6, 2016

Hamilton dropped 23 points behind championship leader and teammate Nico Rosberg after being forced to retire from last week's Malaysian Grand Prix.