Hamilton: The car 'came alive' after DRS train problems

Lewis Hamilton was buoyed by his late-race progress after claiming a sixth place result at the Miami Grand Prix.

A disappointing Saturday resulted in a P13 grid start for the seven-time World Champion, who endured his worst qualifying result of the season.

Starting on the Hard tyres, the Mercedes driver was forced to play the long game in order to profit from a long first tyre stint.

Switching to the faster, Medium tyres at his only pit stop, Hamilton was then able to overtake drivers, including Pierre Gasly and Charles Leclerc, to recover to sixth, backing up teammate George Russell's P4 result.

Speaking after the race, Hamilton explained how he had struggled to make any progress in the early stages of the race, before profiting from the adverse strategy.

"It was definitely difficult at the start just being in a DRS train with a bunch of cars and trying to get past a Williams, which is always quick on the straights, so it was not so easy," Hamilton told media.

"But eventually, I was able to start making headway, and then once I had done the stop and got back out on the Hards, that's when I was able to really start to push.

"So the car came alive a bit midway through the race and to get from thirteenth to sixth, I'm pretty happy with that, unfortunately we started so far behind.

"But I enjoyed the race, I had a lot of fun just making my way through. It's nice to be able to have a battle with people, and good points for the team."