Hamilton remains critical after third place: 'Our car is bouncing everywhere'

A fifth starting spot also took some getting used to for Hamilton, after being used to starting at the front with his Mercedes for the past eight years. However, Red Bull Racing and Ferrari have built a faster car and so the Briton did not start with the idea that he would make the podium in Bahrain.

Problems for Mercedes

''“Oh for sure, we definitely wouldn’t have expected it. I woke up this morning [Sunday] hoping we would have a chance to fight, have a car that’s better than we think maybe, or something like that. We did struggle in the race, but George did a great job. To get a third and a fourth I think is pretty remarkable given the problems we have,' states the Mercedes driver.

Despite the trophy for third place, Hamilton's view has not completely changed. ''The thing is with our car, we have a car that’s bouncing a lot everywhere. It’s not just in a straight line, and we have [a] very poor rear end through all the lower-speed corners and all the medium-speed corners.'' Hamilton concludes. With that bouncing, it will be a tough task for Mercedes on the street circuit of Saudi Arabia.