King's Lynn born George Russell fifth at Jeddah Grand Prix ahead of Lewis Hamilton

Lynn-born George Russell finished ahead of team-mate Lewis Hamilton and claimed fifth spot in Jeddah after a tricky weekend for the Mercedes-AMG Petronas team at Formula One’s Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.

‍At the Jeddah Corniche circuit, the 24-year-old lined up in P6 (sixth) on a set of medium compound Pirelli tyres.

As the lights went out for the 50 lap race, Russell began hunting down the Alpine of Esteban Ocon for fifth position, making a stellar move at the last corner of lap four to snatch P5 from the Frenchman.

Capitalising on the virtual safety car on lap 17, Russell switched to the hard tyres as the team opted for a one-stop strategy, re-joining in sixth.

As racing resumed on lap 21, Russell made his move on the Haas of Kevin Magnussen to take back fifth spot.

With the laps ticked down, Russell maintained his position but was unable to catch the Red Bull of Sergio Perez ahead of him for P4, ending the race in fifth with 10 crucial points.

Russell said: "It was a strong race in terms of maximising our potential points today, the car felt good but we're just lacking downforce because we can't get the car to run close to the ground.

"We got the car in a nice window and I was pushing as hard as I could, it was probably the most physical race I've experienced in F1, 50 laps at the limit on a fast street circuit – I just want to be doing it fighting for victory.

"Everybody is working as hard as they can to close the gap to Red Bull and Ferrari, every single person at Brackley and Brixworth wants more and we'll continue to push until we close that gap. This first part of the season isn't packed with races, the calendar isn't too dense, so it gives us some time to find solutions.

"We aren't here to fight for P5 but you've got to take the positives. The race was enjoyable to drive, this track is probably in the top five of the year, incredibly fast and with fantastic grip."

Hamilton finished in tenth spot.

Formula One will return to Australia for the first time in two years on Friday, April 8 with FP1 at 4am BST.