Lewis Hamilton takes 'positives' after tough outing in Saudi Arabia

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 pitstop 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.

Fernando Alonso. The Centurion. ??#SaudiArabianGP #F1 @alo_oficial pic.twitter.com/pD4LPgzrNk

Encouraging weekend

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.

"We got some great points as a team today," said Hamilton immediately after the race. "George got third, which is amazing. I went forward, one foot in front of the other!

"I'm really grateful to have come from seventh place.

"The strategy didn't work for me. The set-up was a bit off. If I had George's set-up I would be in a better position. There's lots to work on but we can take the positives."

Mercedes still finished far behind the commanding Red Bulls as Perez claimed his fifth career victory ahead of defending double champion Max Verstappen, who came through the field from 15th on the grid.

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Credit to Red Bull

Mercedes once enjoyed similar domination, winning eight consecutive constructors' titles.

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