Hamilton opens up on the crucial mistake behind Verstappen's stunning overtake

The seven-time world champion pushed Verstappen closely during the opening stint of the race, before undercutting the Red Bull driver during the pitstops.

Hamilton was simply expected to pull away from Verstappen and close up on the two leading McLarens, so would have been very surprised to see his old rival divebomb him into Turn 1, just after the pair lapped the Racing Bull of Liam Lawson.

Looking back at his start to the race and Max's overtake on him, Hamilton said: "I had a good start, relatively decent start. Gaining position and then had really good pace in that first stint of the race just can't overtake here unfortunately.

Giving his overall verdict on the day he added: "It was pretty bad, pretty frustrating. It is what it is and there's lots of positives to take from this first half of the season."

Hamilton was still on to finish ahead of Verstappen after undercutting him during the second stops. The Ferrari driver ultimately finished down in fifth though and blamed the unnecessary late pit stop for his penalty for speeding in the pitlane.

Racing Bulls driver Lawson had the best seat in the house, as Verstappen lapped him before instantly divebombing Hamilton into the first corner.

Speaking after the race, he said: "Yeah, I was just trying not to get in the way and be too much involved. I wasn't getting lapped, so I didn't have to let him go, but yeah, it's I didn't expect them to go by. Obviously, I saw the late lunge, it ended up costing me so much time behind them, which at the time was a bit stressful, but it was a good move. It was very Max."