Sir Lewis Hamilton was 'a bit grumpy' during pre-season filming with Sky and 'seemed unhappy' at how negotiations played out for new one-year Mercedes deal, reveals Martin Brundle

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Sir Lewis Hamilton appeared 'grumpy' when filming with Sky Sports ahead of the upcoming Formula One season, according to Martin Brundle. 

The former driver and long-time commentator believes Hamilton is peeved at the way negotiations with Mercedes turned out. 

The seven-time Formula One world champion only signed a one-year deal with the Silver Arrows, weeks before pre-season testing in Bahrain. 

Sir Lewis Hamilton was 'generous but a bit grumpy' during filming with Sky Sports 

Brundle was with Hamilton for the filming of features to go out later in the season and reflected on the driver's state of mind. 

Speaking at a Sky F1 testing preview, he said: 'We did a couple of features with him that we will play out through the year on Sky F1. 

'He was very generous but a bit grumpy actually, I thought generally. It's interesting that his right-hand man, Marc Hynes, is no longer working with him.

'I sensed he possibly wasn't super-happy with the way the negotiations have worked out at Mercedes.'

Martin Brundle revealed that Hamilton seemed a bit annoyed at how negotiations had gone 

The short deal worked out with Hamilton was due to a lack of negotiating time and opportunity, according to team principal Toto Wolff. 

Hamilton himself said that he did not want to look too far ahead at the age of 36. 

Brundle went on to add that Hamilton warmed up but feels there will be real competition this season. 

He added: 'I did say to him "you're going to burst through 100 poles this year at some point, most likely" and he went: "Why? McLaren were a quarter of a second behind us in Abu Dhabi, now they've got our engine; what about Red Bull, maybe the high rake works; and don't count out Ferrari, and the Aston Martin will be strong".

Hamilton believes this season will be a tough one now that his competition have improved

The British superstar is attempting to win his eighth world title in the upcoming campaign 

'He sort of really challenged me quite hard and I said "well, you have got 98 of them, mostly in the hybrid era, you scored 10 last year – there's half a chance you'll get two more this year".

'But when we got over that little hurdle – because Lewis does love to poke you a little bit before you sit down to do stuff like that – I had an hour with him talking about that amazing race in Istanbul last year when he took his seventh World title and he was very generous on inside his head, inside his life of a grand prix weekend and how qualifying unfolds.'   

Hamilton would hold the outright record for world championships if he manages to notch an eighth to move one clear of Michael Schumacher. 

Bahrain will host the first race of the competition from 26-28 March.