Lewis Hamilton's first Formula 1 season at Ferrari has been a true rollercoaster of emotions, but it dipped into a new low at the Spanish Grand Prix, which left him desperate to just "go home".
Despite outqualifying team-mate Charles Leclerc by two places in fifth - with the caveat that Leclerc sacrificed an optimum tyre choice for payback in the race - Hamilton suffered a difficult Sunday. He was quickly caught by Leclerc in the early phase of the grand prix, and Ferrari had to order him to concede fourth place, which he did on lap 10 of 66.
He later slipped behind George Russell's Mercedes and was then even gazumped by Nico Hulkenberg's Sauber shortly after the late-race safety car restart.
That dropped him to a seventh place at the flag that became sixth after Max Verstappen's 10-second time penalty, but that came as little consolation to Hamilton.
He told his Ferrari race engineer Riccardo Adami on the cool-down lap: "Yeah unbelievable guys, something wrong with this car mate, it's the worst it's ever been."
His outlook hadn't improved by the time he'd reached the media pen, either, starting with a series of TV interviews.
When Sky Sports F1 asked him if he'd tell them how he was feeling and what he was dealing with, he said "not particularly, it was just not a good day".
He made it clear "strategy was good, the team did a great job" but he's just struggling.
"What do you want me to say? I've had a really bad day and I've got nothing to say," he told Sky's Rachel Brookes.
"It was a difficult day, there's nothing else to add, there's no point explaining it, it's not your fault, what else to say?"
Brookes then said she hoped Ferrari would find an answer to what he was struggling with. Hamilton replied: "I'm sure they won't. It was probably just me."
Speaking to other media, including The Race, shortly afterwards, Hamilton made it clear he was in no mood to talk.
He said he "had no idea why it was so bad" and called it "the worst race I've experienced, balance-wise".
Asked if there were any positives, he said "zero" and said "I'm going home" when asked for his plan before the next race in Montreal.
Asked again where he can go from here, he said "home", then said "I want to head home, guys" when quizzed on how he could build on this and improve.
That was a pretty clear signal to the packed media audience to cease the questions and let Hamilton get his wish.
Hamilton's "worst race I've experienced" and "zero" positives comments were put to team boss Fred Vasseur after the race.
"You're experienced enough to not draw a conclusion after the first word of the driver, if you want to create the polemic you can but it's not the case," Vasseur said.
"He did 70% of the race in front of Russell, not sure that the race was a disaster. We had an issue on the car in the last stint before the safety car, the result is not good, but he did 45 laps in front of Russell."
Vasseur wouldn't be drawn on the nature of the issue and while he's correct to say Hamilton spent much of the race ahead of Russell, the contrast to Leclerc was painful once again.
Leclerc secured an unlikely podium from seventh with an inspired strategy and pounced on Verstappen's error at the safety car restart.
Leclerc's under no illusion that "we were lucky with the safety car, otherwise fourth was our position" but his race pace was far stronger than Hamilton's and he's without the same self-doubt that Hamilton's "I'm sure they won't [find the problem], was probably just me" implied.
Of course, that unspecified late-race problem Vasseur mentioned might explain Hamilton's tardy restart where he was passed on merit with ease by Ferrari's customer team, Sauber, but it doesn't explain why Leclerc was so much quicker early in the race.
This isn't the first time Hamilton's been unhappy during his first Ferrari season, nor is sixth place anywhere near his worst race finish. In fact, it's in the top half of his grand prix finishes for Ferrari so far.
But it was his worst race of the season so far because by his own admission his feeling nine races in is "worse than it's ever been", following straight on from a disappointing Monaco weekend that included further tension with Adami and another big deficit to Leclerc.
It's no surprise Hamilton can't wait to get home and start to understand what he needs to do to tame this Ferrari.
Imola's apparent slight reversal of Hamilton and Leclerc's roles seems increasingly like a one-off, while Hamilton's Shanghai sprint pole and victory is an ever-more-distant fever dream.
And this isn't just "polemic" but something Hamilton's giving every indication that he's feeling post-Spain.
Facebook Conversations