Lewis Hamilton said it was "unfortunate" Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez failed to finish the Bahrain GP, after the seven-time world champion snatched a podium finish having earlier looked certain to finish in fifth place.
Verstappen complained about steering problems after pitting, and then said he felt there was a battery problem in the closing laps, before pulling into the pit lane and ending his race early.
Perez's engine then locked up on the last lap of the race, meaning he also failed to finish, leaving Red Bull with no points from the opening race of the season, after both racers had looked nailed-on to finish inside the top four.
On Ferrari's one-two, Hamilton said: "Happy to see them doing well again. They're such a historic team so it's great to see Carlos and Charles up there as well so congratulations to them. I think it was such a difficult race, we struggled through practice. This is the best result we could've got. It was unfortunate for the other two drivers (Verstappen and Perez) but we did the best we could and we're grateful for the points."
Had Red Bull not experienced such problems at the end of the race, Mercedes would've been well off the pace set by both them and Ferrari, and Hamilton acknowledged there is plenty of work to be done for Mercedes to compete with the two early pace-setting teams.
Hamilton added: "I know the guys are working really hard back at the factory and it's not going to be a quick turnaround, but as a team I do feel we've been the best unified team for so long. If we keep our heads down and keep working... there's a long way to go."
