'Had the car to fight for a win' – Hamilton explains brake issues that caused Spanish GP retirement

Lewis Hamilton believes that Ferrari "had the car to fight for a win" in the Spanish Grand Prix, after the seven-time World Champion was an early retirement with brake problems.

The Briton started fourth for Sunday's 57-lap race at Formula 1's newest venue, the Madring, and made a strong start on the soft Pirelli tyre.

Hamilton initially moved ahead of Max Verstappen's Red Bull on the run to Turn 1 and briefly looked to overtake front row starters Lando Norris and Kimi Antonelli before backing out.

Having been handed third-place back after Verstappen cut the first corner, Hamilton started to encounter braking issues in the opening laps and reported over the radio that he glanced the wall.

Hamilton continued to lose positions over the following laps and ran deep into the Turn 20 run-off area, rejoining the circuit before pulling into the pits and retiring after just seven laps.

"It was already basically before that," Hamilton told Sky F1 when asked if the contact with the wall had caused the braking issue.

"Braking for Turn 5 I hit the brake, the car started stopping and then the pedal took a step and all of a sudden the car didn't de-accelerate as fast a normal.

"I ended up carrying a lot of speed in and just brushed the barrier. After that the pedal came back and then a few corners later, the pedal went long. I don't really know where that's come from."

Hamilton had challenged for pole position on Saturday, while in Sunday's race team mate Charles Leclerc led the most laps as Ferrari tried to keep the Monegasque driver out in the hope of a late Safety Car before finishing fourth.

"We've had a pretty decent car, a good car this weekend and I think we will continue to try and improve it and I think we have better results coming in the future," said Hamilton.

He added: "I think the team’s done an amazing job, so I'm sad for them today that they couldn't get max points. I think we had the car to fight for a win today, and unfortunately it just didn't work out."