Max Verstappen picked up his first win of the season in Saudi Arabia on Sunday. Lewis Hamilton’s rivals got tougher, and the weekend could be called a failure for the Briton, to put him lighter.

The Mercedes driver sent shockwaves across the Formula 1 world when he dropped out of the first qualifying round on Saturday.

On Sunday, he cruised from 15th place, but the seven-time world champion was hardly happy to finish in 10th.

– It’s difficult, he told Viasport after the race.

– Avoid

Hamilton has no doubt that Mercedes has problems that need fixing, especially when it comes to cars.

– We’re far from where we should be. I can’t even keep up with Haas. “In short, we are way below,” he told Viasport after the race.

This does not appear to have improved since the qualifying shock on Saturday. Then the British called the car “impassable”.

– I don’t know how different the car arrangements are, but today my car was impassable, he said later according to Sky Sportsbefore pointing his finger at himself.

– It’s my own fault. I made some adjustments.

Rival wins

Verstappen’s winner lay down for a long time and turned against Charles Leclerc, who led most of the race. With three laps remaining, the Dutchman managed to get away because of Leclerc’s Ferrari.

Monegasque fought hard to regain the lead, but the reigning world champions became too strong.

The win was Verstappen’s first of the season, after he had to break the opening race in Bahrain last weekend.

Carlos Sainz took third place, and provided a strong weekend for Ferrari.