Hamilton seethes: It was damage limitation

An exasperated Lewis Hamilton proclaimed himself pleased with his third-place finish in the Bahrain Grand Prix, but declared the race 'damage limitation' after starting from ninth position on the grid and never contending with eventual winner, Sebastian Vettel.

In a thrilling race, pit strategies were key and Ferrari excelled, with Vettel coming out on top ahead of the Mercedes duo of Valtteri Bottas and Hamilton in the podium positions.

It has not been the start to the season Hamilton would have wanted, having finished behind Vettel in Australia in the opening round, and though he offered his congratulations to the German and stated he was happy, it was clear that Hamilton was not pleased with proceedings.

He said post-race: "I'm happy. Congratulations to Sebastian and Valtteri did an exceptional job this weekend.

"I'm really happy, I started ninth so third is not bad at all. It's damage limitation.

"There were frustrating points in the race so they couldn't hear me so I had to pick particular moments to speak to them. Communication is really difficult when you are trying to catch Sebastian who is 25 seconds ahead to know exactly what you need to do to not kill your tyres but make it so you catch him at the end. When you're not getting that feedback it's frustrating."

The result leaves Hamilton 17 points behind Vettel already in the driver standings, while Ferrari are also out in front in the constructor's championship, with 65 points to Mercedes' 55.