Mercedes “still far off” Ferrari and Red Bull in F1 top order

The Mercedes driver battled up the order from his lowly starting position of 15th to hold sixth place for the middle part of the race, but was unable to pit under the virtual safety car period when the pitlane was closed due to both Fernando Alonso’s Alpine and Daniel Ricciardo’s McLaren stopping on the track.

Once Hamilton could pit he returned to the action in 12th place and with fresh medium tyres was able to climb back up to 10th place at the chequered flag.

But the…