Doornbos: 'Max doesn't talk about Mercedes, but looks at himself'

Mercedes needed a good result. After going longer without victory than they are used to, they celebrated Lewis Hamilton's first place as a hard-earned victory. According to Robert Doornbos this session shows once again that Formula 1 is a real team sport.

"They took a lot of blows," Doornbos said at Ziggo Sport. The former Formula 1 driver thinks it was important to "Just hit back, in whatever way you can. And you can also see how Max accepts that: he doesn't immediately start talking about Mercedes, but says they should look at themselves and what they need to improve."

However, the Formula One analyst also believes that this result does not yet say everything about the rest of the weekend and where Red Bull stands. "I think it will be fine. It's not the end of the world if you lose this by a few hundredths," he explained.

"Lewis has also just done really well by improving a little bit each session, and having a teammate a la Bottas, who says, 'I'll go out first to clear the air for you'. In that, you see that Formula 1 is a team sport, and that was maximally executed by Mercedes," Doornbos concluded.