Lewis Hamilton believes Mercedes still have their work cut out to beat Max Verstappen and Red Bull, despite the victory in an eventful Russian Grand Prix that took him back to the top of the Formula One standings.
Reigning title-holder Hamilton leads Verstappen in the drivers' championship by two points after claiming his 100th F1 triumph in Sochi.
Hamilton passed McLaren's Lando Norris, who was eyeing a maiden victory from pole position, to become the first driver to reach a century of wins.
Norris spun off the track while leading with three laps to go as rain caused late havoc, Hamilton's British compatriot finishing seventh as Verstappen was able to secure second place having started at the back of the grid.
"What a race the weather provided. It's taken a long time to get to 100, and I wasn't sure it would come," Hamilton told Sky Sports.
"Lando did such an amazing job, he had incredible pace and is doing such a great job for McLaren. It was bittersweet to see my old team ahead, and they're doing fantastically."
Hamilton made amends having been disappointed with a qualifying performance that saw him start fourth on the grid, though he remains naturally wary of the threat posed by Verstappen.
"Going to bed last night I was not the happiest with the job I did yesterday," Hamilton said.
"I watched the replay and they were subtle mistakes but not ideal. I was so determined when I woke up this morning, and I was determined to just do the best job I could. I lost a lot of ground at the start trying to stay out of trouble.
"Max must have done a really great job to come up to second from last. We've got our work cut out.
"It would have been tough to get past Lando unless we came up to some traffic or he made a mistake, which he hasn't been doing, so then the rain came and it was very opportunistic."
Alonso's 100th podium finish reinstated as Aston Martin win Saudi Arabia appeal
Fernando Alonso's 100th podium finish in Formula One has been reinstated after Aston Martin appealed a decision to hand him a 10-second penalty at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.
Alonso celebrated consecutive third-placed finishes on Sunday, having taken the lead from Sergio Perez early on before receiving a five-second penalty for an incorrect starting position on the grid.
The Spaniard recovered to finish behind Red Bull duo Perez and Max Verstappen, but an investigation after the race concluded he had not served his full five-second punishment while in the pit lane.
Mercedes' George Russell moved up to third after an Aston Martin engineer was said to have placed the rear jack on the back of Alonso's car just before the end of his penalty.
Alonso subsequently claimed that decision "didn't hurt too much" but criticised a "poor show" from the FIA, though the two-time world champion will be more content after his team's appeal was successful.
The outcome of Aston Martin's bid to reverse the penalty was announced shortly after 1am in Jeddah, confirming Alonso's century of podium finishes.
Alonso is just the sixth driver to reach that figure, after Lewis Hamilton (191), Michael Schumacher (155), Sebastian Vettel (122), Alain Prost (106) and Kimi Raikkonen (103).
Race stewards said they were shown footage of seven similar incidents in which cars were touched by the jack while serving a time penalty – all of which went unpunished – as part of the appeal.
Hamilton sees Mercedes progress in Saudi Arabia but Wolff still determined to challenge for wins
Lewis Hamilton feels Mercedes have shown progress after the Saudi Arabia Grand Prix but Toto Wolff is still determined to see the team challenge for victory.
The Briton finished fifth in the second race of the season, improving on his seventh-place position on the starting grid as Sergio Perez led a one-two Red Bull lockout.
Team-mate George Russell meanwhile provided the Silver Arrows with their first podium of the year, after he was elevated to third following a penalty against Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso.
After a build-up dominated by the topic of the seven-time world champion's future, Hamilton acknowledged he was satisfied to make some steps in the right direction, no matter how small.
"We got some great points for the team," he told Sky Sports. "George got third and he did amazing. I went forwards. I'm really grateful to have come from seventh to fifth.
"The strategy didn't really work out for me, the set-up was a little bit off. [There is] lots to work on but there are positives to take away from it.
"I could only match [Russell's] pace rather than be quicker this weekend, but I'll work hard to make sure we're in a better position next weekend."
After taking fifth and seventh at the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix, Saudi Arabia represented an improvement for Mercedes as a whole.
But Wolff is keen to see the team back among the frontrunners on the grid, stating of their performance; "We want to race for wins soon. We are [the] first loser.
"The question is what is [our] benchmark. If you look at the Red Bulls, they are just so quick. I think we understand the car more and I am looking optimistic for the future.
"We are making big elephant steps at the moment. But it is going to be a long time till we can challenge Red Bull. It is a super fun journey to climb back."
Russell, who missed out on standing on the podium before he was retroactively awarded third, acknowledges their rivals remain far ahead of the pack, but believes Mercedes are closer than many think.
"You have to give credit to what Red Bull have done," he added. "The gap they have to the rest of the field is bigger than we have seen since perhaps Mercedes in 2014. It is a serious, serious gap.
"But we know we didn't make the right decisions over the winter and we can regain some of that performance quicker than you would do ordinarily. All is not lost. We'll focus on ourselves and get the fundamentals right."
Mercedes posted a better day than rivals Ferrari, who saw Charles Leclerc forced to take a 10-place grid penalty before the race for a power unit change.
The Monegasque driver finished seventh, one place behind team-mate Carlos Sainz Jr., leaving team principal Frederic Vasseur to mull over a below-par weekend.
"It's not a good result," he added. "We didn't have the pace, we have to be honest. We have positive points from the weekend.
"[But] we have to understand where the lack of performance is coming from. It is not coming from the management."
Verstappen revels in Jeddah recovery as Red Bull boss Horner hails Perez's best race
Max Verstappen revelled in his impressive recovery at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix while Christian Horner lavished Sergio Perez's "best ever race".
Perez claimed a fifth race win of his Formula One career on Sunday, bouncing back after briefly losing the lead to Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso early on.
Red Bull team-mate Verstappen had plenty of work to do – starting in 15th after dropping out in Q2 on Saturday due to a mechanical failure – but he charged through the field to make the podium.
Verstappen, who reported an issue with his car with around 12 laps remaining, also retained his place at the top of the drivers' standings by recording the race's fastest lap right at the death, leaving the two-time reigning champion to reflect on a satisfying outing.
"It wasn't very easy to get through the field, through the first sector it was very difficult – a lot of sliding around," Verstappen told Sky Sports.
"Once I cleared them one by one, we got into a good rhythm, and of course I'm very happy to be here on the podium.
"I was second and we had a big gap behind us, so at one point we decided to call it a day and settle for second, which I think was a great recovery anyway so I'm happy with that."
While Verstappen battled his way through the grid, Perez held firm to ensure Red Bull became the first team to win both races and both qualifying sessions in the first two contests of an F1 season.
Perez added: "It turned out to be tougher than I expected. We really did a good job in the first stint, that safety car tried to take it away from us.
"I was after the victory last year and finally I got it. The team did a fantastic job, they worked so hard during the week, we had a lot of mechanical issues, so I'm really happy for them.
"We will keep pushing hard. The important thing is we were the fastest car out there today. We're very pleased with that."
Horner rated Perez's display as his best in F1, telling Sky Sports: "The team – all credit to them – have built an incredible car.
"We've got a great car and two great drivers. What we saw today [was] two drivers pushing each other. Max coming through from 15th on the grid… by half distance, he was already in P4!
"Checo, I think that was his best ever race, managing the pace and the restart... those guys were going absolutely flat out.
"They were both pushing hard and Max got the fastest lap of the race, but what a weekend for him. He was patient, he picked the cars off, it was a phenomenal recovery from him."
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