Toto Wolff admits Mercedes 'put their hand down the toilet' in bid to catch Red Bull

Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff certainly wasn't expecting to see Lewis Hamilton on the podium in Bahrain, particularly after they "put their hand in the toilet" midway through the race. Coming into the race weekend, Mercedes knew they were far off the pace being shown by Red Bull and Ferrari.

That was clear in qualifying on Saturday with Hamilton only able to qualify fifth-fastest while a mistake from George Russell put him down in ninth. The young British driver soon made amends in Sunday's race, but Hamilton also got off to a strong start as he overtook Sergio Perez and was on the back of Carlos Sainz.

Hamilton could do nothing to hold off the Red Bull driver a few laps later with Mercedes appearing to consolidate the fifth and sixth positions. Mercedes were miles behind the top two teams, before a safety car period with less than 10 laps to go gave them a chance.

And the Silver Arrows were helped even further when both Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez began to suffer mechanical issues. Verstappen was the first forced to retire from the race, pushing both Hamilton and Russell up to fourth and fifth respectively.

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Then Hamilton was ultimately handed a podium on the final lap when Perez's car appeared to seize up, forcing him to follow Verstappen in retiring from the race. It proved to be a huge bonus for Mercedes in a week where they did not expect to be competing near the front.

Midway through the race, believing they had nothing to lose nor gain, Mercedes raised a few eyebrows when they opted to put the non-favoured hard compound on Hamilton's car. But it quickly became apparent that decision had backfired with those behind beginning to