Lewis Hamilton was left crumpled in a heap at the end of an energy-sapping French Grand Prix.
It was the Brit's 300th race of his long and successful career, and marked the best result to date for his season. He finished second behind Max Verstappen, with team-mate George Russell in third to secure an excellent result for Mercedes.
But it was far from easy for the seven-time world champion, who was left exhausted and dehydrated after the race. It was clear to see he was struggling as TV cameras visited the waiting room for the podium, as he laid on the floor while Russell took his seat as normal.
Speaking to Sky Sports F1 , Hamilton later revealed that an issue with his drinks system meant that he was unable to take any fluids on boards throughout the whole Grand Prix. "That was a tough race, my drinks bottle didn't work," he said.
"I feel fantastic, I was just a little dehydrated. I don't actually ever really drink in the race – this is the first time I've tried it all year and there was nothing coming out. I didn't see my weight but I imagine [I lost] about three kilos. It's enough. I am looking forward to downing the rest of this drink."
Despite his lack of fluids, Hamilton was in a buoyant mood after a surprising strong points haul for Mercedes – the team's best of the season so far. He added: "But what a great result, considering we've been so far off this weekend.
"Especially with missing FP1, I'm just so proud of the team. Winning races and getting result like this is about the whole package, and of course we know that we have quite a ways to go to the teams ahead, but reliability is a huge part of the process and I'm proud that we have the reliability that we do have.
"We were ninth-tenths off in quali, but for some reason our race pace is better – I can't answer why. But I'm grateful for that because the majority of the time it's the most important pace.
"We don't know why he had a bigger gap over a single lap, but we definitely weren't expecting that. So in the race it was just about keeping them behind. And what a great job George did to get by [ Sergio Perez ]."
