A delighted Lewis Hamilton said his unexpected victory in Sunday's Russian Grand Prix had been an inspiring experience that reminded him of how he felt after the first win of his career.

The series leader and defending five-time champion made the most of a disappointing day for Ferrari and a kind Safety Car intervention to come home ahead of Mercedes teammate Valtteri Bottas and Ferrari's Charles Leclerc.

It extended Mercedes' perfect record to six wins out of six races since Russia joined the F1 calendar in 2014.

It was Hamilton's ninth win this year and first in four outings since the Hungarian Grand Prix on August 4 and ended a run of three consecutive Ferrari victories.

"It's incredible to have this result – it feels like a long time coming, but it feels like the first time as well," he said.

"It feels long, particularly with the break and everything. It's really down to the team – we all had to play our part, and I think we brought our A game today.

"Just keeping up with them was an incredibly hard task this weekend – it's so hard just to try and stay within distance of them. To separate them in qualifying was good.

"They were on another planet when we took off at the start. They were gone!

"After that, they had such great pace, so I was struggling just to keep up."

A competition of tires

In a bid to keep their hopes alive, Mercedes had chosen a risky strategy by starting on medium tires — while their rivals were all on softs — and seeking to stay out longer to gain an advantage.

Hamilton said he understood the theory, but said it did not work out in practice.

"We thought the soft tire would drop off so this morning was like 'either we're right in our estimation of the tire or they're right' and I think they were! The soft tyre went really far."

Hamilton battled to keep them within reach and closed the gap before a Safety Car, when Sebastian Vettel's Ferrari stopped with a power failure, handing him the initiative.

"That stole things from the fans," he added.

"I thought we were going to have a real race. We love the challenge with Ferrari now and it's great to see them performing so well.

"I'm really excited for the next few races. It takes a lot of energy, but that's what we are here for!"

Hamilton's 82nd career victory moved him closer to Michael Schumacher's all-time record of 91 wins and lifted him 73 points clear of Bottas with five races remaining.

"I say this every year, but, honestly, I try not to think about the championship," said Hamilton, avoiding talk of a prospective sixth title.

"Today was about the team. It was an incredible job by all the guys. No giving up. Keep trying new things and pushing forwards. Always innovative and never giving up. That's what makes me feel incredibly inspired."

Leclerc still trusts Ferrari teammate Vettel despite Russia tension

Charles Leclerc said he has retained full trust in Ferrari teammate Sebastian Vettel despite their radio feud over a broken agreement in the opening laps of Sunday's Russian Grand Prix.

The 21-year-old Monegasque racer, who gave Vettel a slip-stream to enable him to sling-shot into the lead on lap one, claimed they had agreed to hand him back the lead – suggesting that the four-time champion had ignored team orders.

The agreement came a week after Ferrari had helped Vettel triumph for the first time in 13 months at the Singapore Grand Prix with an "undercut" pit-stop that deprived Leclerc of a hat-trick of wins.

"I think everything was respected," said Leclerc after the race, pointing out that he had repeated this on team radio, even when he prompted the team to manage the situation more clearly.

"At the start, I went to the left to give Seb the slip-stream. I knew he would overtake and then we just had to the swap back – which we did at the pit-stop later in the race."

Leclerc regained the lead when Vettel was called in to pit, but the German then retired on lap 28 with an engine failure that required a Safety Car intervention gifting the initiative and victory to Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes.

"I think the trust doesn't change and I think we need to trust each other," said Leclerc.

"It's hugely important for the team to know that you can count on one another. It's very important and, yes, I think the trust is still there."