Lewis Hamilton returns to the track ahead of Monaco GP after being branded 'pathetic' by John Watson

Lewis Hamilton returned to the track this morning for first practice for Sunday’s Monaco Grand Prix after pulling out of his media duties on Wednesday in the wake of Niki Lauda’s death.

Five-time world champion Hamilton was accused by one of Lauda’s former team-mates, John Watson, of being “pathetic” for not taking his place at the drivers’ press conference.

Hamilton this morning took to the track in a new liveried Mercedes, with a red star in tribute to Lauda, the Austrian’s signature and the words ‘Danke Niki’.

McLaren, where Lauda won the third of his world titles, also had stickers in place on their cars and had Lauda’s old racing helmet on display in their hospitality suite.

Hamilton put out a statement yesterday saying he had lost a “bright light in my life” before Mercedes excused him from his press duties.

But Watson told the Daily Mail: “To be so upset that he apparently cannot discuss his admiration for how Niki helped him — that’s pathetic.”