After clearing Da෴n💝iel Ricciardo through the pit stop phase, Hamilton was unleashed and began his pursuit of race leader Norris.

Hamilton cut the gap to just over a second before th꧅e rain started to fall in the c🃏losing stages.

Mercedes cal🥀led Hamilton in for intermediates, wꦉhile Norris stayed out in the hope it wouldn’t continue raining.

It proved to be the correct decision as Norris struggled on his slick 💝tyres, losing a considerable amount of time as he ultimat🍰ely dropped to seventh.

Reflecting on his 100th grand prix victory and battle with Norris, Hamilton said: “Lando did such an amazing job,” Hamilton said. “He had incredible pace, he’s doing such a great job for McLaren. It’s very bittersweet to see my old team ahead, them doing so well, they won the last race, they’re doing ꦏfantastic, obviously powered by Mercedes.

“It’s good to see them un🅺ited again. Obviously, the team made a great call right at the end. I didn’t want to let Lando go, of course.”

Hamilton admitted that it was unlikely he’d have overta🗹ken Norris 🦂on track had it stayed dry.

“It would have been tough to have got past♔ Lando - he had great pace, he did the fastest lap so it would have been tough to have got past unless we caught some traffic or if he made a mistake which he hasn’t been doing at all,” Hamilton added.

“Then the rain came and it was very opportunistic and I said the te༒am did an amazing job so big, big thank you to them. Otherwise, there’s nothing I can do about whose behind me. That’s the dream for Max, naturally, but I a💛m grateful for the points.”