George Russell and Lewis Hamilton have effectively written-off their chances of catching Kimi Antonelli in the title fight.

Russell came home fifth having disagreed with his team over strategy. Starting on the hards, unlike his teammate who had started on mediums, the Briton was pitted under the VSC for mediums, at a time rivals were switching to the hards.

Rejoining the race still in fifth, when he asked if his tyres would last until the end he was told "negative" and indeed pitted again just 14 laps later, just one lap after being passed by Lando Norris.

"Very frustrating timing with the safety car," said the Mercedes driver post-race. "We were hoping to make it to lap 40, we knew Kimi and the drivers on the medium and the soft would pit around lap 15, and the safety car came at lap 14, so...

"The hard was by far my most superior tyre," he added. "It would have been a big gamble to have stayed out on the medium.

"I thought I had nothing to lose. In the end, I think I would have ended up where I ended up anyway. So, a bit of a shame.

"It's a very tough track to overtake on, which was a bit annoying, I guess, for everyone. The performance was far better than the result," he insisted. "But this was kind of Monaco-esque, in terms of qualifying being everything."

With his teammate winning the race, and extending his championship lead to 81-points, the Briton was asked about the title.

"I'm not going to say it's over," he said, "but it's exceptionally unlikely that I'm in this fight.

"I'm not even thinking about being in the fight," he added, "because I don't think I am in the fight. It almost just allows me to focus race by race and just try and win as many as possible. What will be, will be, but... that's where we are right now."

At Ferrari, Hamilton suffered his first DNF of the season, the seven-time world champion having been the only driver to complete every single racing lap of the season up until now.

Starting fourth, he was caught up in the scrap that saw Max Verstappen have to yield two positions to him and Antonelli.

However, he then reported a brake issue before dropping down the order and eventually retiring. Though there are potentially nine races remaining, the Briton, now 101-points behind Antonelli, feels his 2026 hopes are also at an end.

"There's no stopping him and Mercedes this year," he told Sky Sports. "They've done a phenomenal job and they deserve it."

Referring to the cause of his retirement, he said: "I hit the brake, the car started stopping, and then the pedal took a step. The car didn't decelerate as fast as it normally would, so I ended up carrying a lot of speed in.

"And then I brushed the barrier, and after that the pedal came back, it was fine, and then I think a few corners later on, the pedal went long. I don't really know what that's all about.

"I think we have a good," he insisted. "We've had a pretty decent car, a good car this weekend and I think we will continue to try and improve it and I think we have better results coming in the future."

Check out our Sunday gallery from the Madring here.