Verstappen after holding off Hamilton for podium: "It was a good workout!"

After defending for his life from Lewis Hamilton in the final laps to hold on to his podium place, Aston Martin Red Bull Racing's Max Verstappen jokingly said "it was a good workout" to keep the five-time champion at bay.

Starting in fourth place, Verstappen did well to keep Valtteri Bottas' Mercedes behind him in the first stint on the soft tyres, as life started to fade away in his rubber. The Dutchman had a very quick stop and positioned himself nicely to pounce on a potential tactical error from the drivers in front, and that's exactly what happened. 

Hamilton ended up behind him after a very late stop, with the catch that the Brit would obviously be on much fresher tyres by the end of the race. It meant Verstappen had to pull out all the tricks in his bag to successfully defend his podium place.

"The whole race went well," Verstappn analysed when talking to David Coulthard shortly after the race.

"At the beginning it was really slow and everyone was close together then I started to struggle with the tyres and we boxed and it was a good call. We undercut Lewis and from there it was about managing the tyres."

When asked whether the three safety cars helped him to keep his tyres from losing too much grip, Verstappen revealed it actually made it harder rather than easier.

"The safety car restarts were hard because the tyres are cold, but it's good to be on the podium, there's lots of things to work on and look at but I'm happy to be up here in the top three.

"You have to work harder under the safety car to keep your tyres warm than you do flat out. It’s a good work out."