MERCEDES’ revival continued – but their fight-back probably comes too late to stop Max Verstappen’s romp to the title after he recorded his eighth win of the season. Hamilton, who now has five podiums in a row, is confident his team are making progress after their dreadful start to the season. “But if we are able to take this pace into the second half of the season, for sure, we can start to fight with the guys. “This was the first time we’ve been able to fight and battle with a Ferrari – that’s huge for us. “The fact that Max started 10th, spun and still finished 10 seconds ahead says enough about their car, but we still have made huge progress. In a jab at Ferrari’s mistakes, Verstappen said: “I was really just hoping to get close to the podium but we made the right calls.

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