F1 LIVE – Hamilton rains on Russell’s parade, Verstappen stings Perez

Lewis Hamilton on difficult season for Mercedes in November

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Smiles are yet to emerge in the Mercedes camp this season with Lewis Hamilton and George Russell both lacking pace in their pursuit of race wins. They have just over a week to wait for another chance to challenge Red Bull, with the countdown to the Australian Grand Prix now in full swing.

But fans continue to ponder the fall-out from last weekend’s contest in Saudi Arabia, which saw Sergio Perez beat team-mate Max Verstappen to top spot, much to the apparent annoyance of the Dutchman’s father, Jos. 

Fernando Alonso is also in the picture after picking up successive podiums to kick off his career with Aston Martin. And while Ferrari have ambitions of their own, a disappointing weekend in Jeddah left team principal Frederic Vasseur to face tough questions. 

With all this to delve into and more, follow Express Sport’s live F1 updates below…

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Perez stung again

Max Verstappen’s dad, Jos, has taken another sly dig at Red Bull star Sergio Perez after his victory in the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix. 

Jos appeared to blank the Mexican after he beat Max to first place, with the reigning double world champion unable to close the gap after starting in P15. 

Despite Perez producing one of his career-best performances, Jos claims that Max would have ‘easily won’ were it not for his qualifying mishap, adding that Perez ‘does not get the chance to win that often’. 

“Of course, we all want to win but that was not possible today,” he said. “The margin was too small for that. I don’t think [Perez] gets the chance that often. He sees that too and then goes for it.

“It went against us in qualifying. Bad luck, I won’t go into that. We know what it is. But otherwise, Max just easily drives to that pole position. And then the race is a bit easier.”

Hamilton rains on Russell’s parade

Lewis Hamilton has taken the edge off George Russell’s strong performance in Saudi Arabia by suggesting that he could have beaten his Mercedes team-mate, had he opted for the same set-up. 

Russell crossed the line in fourth, six seconds ahead of Hamilton in fifth, and the younger of the duo was broadly faster throughout the weekend. 

In the aftermath of what Russell termed ‘one of his strongest weekends in F1’, Hamilton said: “I think if I had the set-up George had, I would have been in a better position. But yeah, there’s a lot to work on, but there are positives to take away.

“I chose one way, he chose another. More often than not, where he went was the wrong one, but it just happened to work.

“So I could only match his pace rather than be quicker this weekend. But I’ll work hard to make sure that we’re in a better place.”

Welcome!

Good morning and welcome to Express Sport’s F1 LIVE!

Just one more week to go until drivers descend on Australia with two Grands Prix under their belts already this season. 

We will continue to bring you build-up throughout the day, as well as other stories unfolding away from the track.

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