Lewis Hamilton praises 'great recovery' as he issues warning to Red Bull and Ferrari

Lewis Hamilton has warned Mercedes is "slowly eating away at" Red Bull and Ferrari as he praises the team for a "great recovery" in Austria. Hamilton's weekend got off to a bad start on Friday after crashing in Q3, minutes before team-mate George Russell also lost control.

However, the team took advantage of Carlos Sainz's mechanical breakdown and Sergio Perez's early retirement to clinch another podium at Spielberg. When asked if he thought third place was a good result for the Mercedes driver, Hamilton simply replied: "Certainly."

He added: "Especially after a tough Friday with the crash... I said sorry to the team of course, but I'm so proud of everyone for working so hard to rebuild the car And also proud of everyone at the factory for continuing to work hard.

"I don't know what they did with those items I wanted, but hopefully we'll have some new perks coming after that. It's a great recovery for us as a team. "Getting a third and a fourth. Those are really big points, we just have to keep our heads down and keep snacking. We slowly eat the guys in front of us, but they're still pretty quick."

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Hamilton race engineer Marcus Dudley says the seven-time champion is on course for the top three after his qualifying crash on Friday. But the team seemed to struggle to find the rhythm in yesterday's sprint race, with Russell unable to come to terms with Max Verastappen and the two Ferraris up front.

Hamilton looked a bit more competitive today and at one point Red Bull seemed to adjust their strategy to defend against the fast-charging Mercedes. The multiple champion lost time after a slow pit stop but was able to hold onto fourth place.

He was promoted to the podium after Sainz's car caught fire in the final stages after another mechanical problem for Ferrari. Hamilton admitted his car "didn't feel the same" after his crash on Friday, meaning the Silver Arrows could have found themselves closer to the two leaders.

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He added: "From time to time our qualifying pace looked like we could have been in the top three and obviously with the crash it wasn't possible. Then we had a brand new car, new chassis, same engine but new gearbox I think.

"The car wasn't exactly the same as I had on Friday, but it was very, very close and it seemed to get better the more I practiced in it."