Lewis Hamilton said Mercedes could take “positives” out of Sunday’s Saudi Arabian Grand Prix after he and teammate George Russell finished fifth and fourth respectively. 

For a few hours Russell was, in fact, promoted to third after Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso was handed a post-race 10-seconds penalty for an infringement during his pit-stop when he was serving a five-second penalty for making an incorrect start.

Russell described the decision as “harsh”, a view that the FIA agreed with when Aston Martin appealed. Alonso was reinstated for the 100th podium of his career.

That change, however, did not take the gloss off an encouraging weekend for Mercedes although, like everyone else they are struggling to keep pace with the Red Bulls of Sergio Perez and Max Verstappen who completed a third successive 1-2.

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