Wolff: Verstappen has leaped above us all

George Russell finished a strong fourth in the race after an underwhelming qualifying for the Silver Arrows where Lewis Hamilton - the faster Mercedes - was over 1.8s off the pace of Verstappen.

The seven-time Formula 1 Champion took himself out of contention after a clumsy move on Fernando Alonso on the opening lap, a mistake he graciously owned up to, but threw away a chance of a decent result.

But the fact the Verstappen was driving on a level of his own did not go down well with Toto Wolff, especially as Mercedes brought updates to this race.

Speaking in the team's post-race brief, Wolff said: "I don't think we can be satisfied with this weekend - if you see Verstappen, he has leaped above us all.

"We really need to find out how we can improve our car because the gap is just too big," he added. "We're giving the drivers a very difficult car to drive and it hasn't got the pace on a single lap so we need to work ourselves out of this situation.

"Over the next four days, we'll be putting our heads together, setting our sights on the next race and also next season. It's important we stay level-headed, keep our spirits up and don't flip too much between elation and depression.

"This weekend is a low but in Hungary three weeks ago, we were thinking we will absolutely win a race, so we'll never give up," the Austrian insisted.

George Russell admitted to having mixed feelings after failing to catch Carlos Sainz for the last podium position, but given Mercedes woeful pace on Saturday, is happy to take fourth.

Speaking in the team report he said: "I have mixed feelings right now because had you told me last night we will be two seconds off the podium on merit and pure pace, I'd have said that's a good recovery.

"When I was closing in on Carlos at the end, a second a lap, I thought here we go - we're in for a really good shot here. But then I just had two really scrappy laps and got the tyres out of the window," he added.

The Briton went on: "When the tyres are in that sweet spot, the car is transformed but as soon as I lost them, I knew the podium was game-over. Overall, considering where we were, P4 and two seconds off the podium - not too bad.

"Today our race pace was probably better than the Ferraris; Carlos started on pole, was leading the first stint and we closed him in both times. So at worst, I think we were equal with Ferrari today, but as we know, it's swings and roundabouts.

"What is clear is, Max is cruising away at the moment," Russell concluded echoing his team boss' sentiments.