Starting third, the Mercedes driver seized the opportunity of front row starter Charles Leclerc losing momentum out of Turn 1, following a failed move past Verstappen away from the start, to grab second place.
But although Hamilton was then able to shadow Verstappen for the opening laps of the race, eventually he fell out of DRS range before coming home 9.4 seconds behind.
While Hamilton felt that upgrades at Mercedes had helped his team make a step forward this weekend, he said the form shown on Saturday highlighted how much of an edge Red Bull still had.
“That was a fun race,” he said. “Good start down to turn one, and good battle with Charles.
“Then I was trying early on to get closer to Max. But their pace is just undeniable at the moment.
“I'm happy we're a little bit closer. We’ve still got a long way to be able to eke the pace that he was doing throughout the race. But nonetheless, I'm really happy to be back on the podium.”
Source: Autosport