Mercedes delighted with pace, but Russell and Hamilton left Montreal frustrated

Having started from pole position, George Russell ended up third in Montreal to secure Mercedes' first podium finish of 2024, albeit the Briton blamed himself for having made "too many errors" in the wild race.

George Russell had a very strong weekend in Montreal. The British driver secured pole position in a nail-biting battle that sew him and three-time world champion Max Verstappen set an identical lap time.

The King's Lynn-born driver then went on to lead the opening part of the race, but he looked to struggle for pace in drying conditions when the field still used intermediates. Although a late safety car period motivated Mercedes to call their drivers in for a new set of mediums that saw both drivers display eye-catching pace in the closing stages of the 70-lap Canadian Grand Prix, Russell finished in P3.

It was still a great result for Mercedes as they have secured the first podium finish of the year.

"I’m disappointed with myself today. I made too many errors that set us back and cost us a chance of victory. I was really pushing the limits out there. That said, it feels great to be disappointed with P3.

"We’ve made small steps over the past few races and to come to Canada, get pole position and a podium is really encouraging. We’ve been one of the fastest cars on track all weekend, so we’ve definitely made progress. There are many positives to take away from here.

"The conditions were incredibly challenging out there. Put a wheel even one millimetre off line and you would be in trouble. Unfortunately, the errors I made came with consequences as it let other cars past.

"Other drivers made errors too, but they didn’t come at the same cost. We were still able to battle back to the podium though with the pace we had. We will continue to work hard, develop the car, and I’m looking forward to heading to Barcelona," concluded Russell.

The first part of the race saw Hamilton fight Alonso hard and eventually made his way through in the opening pit stops to run behind his team mate. The seven-time world champion looked very strong on the slick tyres, but he had to settle for fourth-placed finish which has been still his best result so far in 2024.

"We scored some good points for the team today. We’re also looking like we’ve made a step closer to the front this weekend which is really encouraging," started the Briton his assesment.

"Thank you so much to everyone at Brackley and Brixworth who has worked so hard to deliver our recent updates. It has moved us in the right direction, and we will continue to put the effort in to continue that progress.

"On my side, it wasn’t the best weekend. We had the pace to be fighting higher up but we ultimately ended up with P4. I’ll go away and work out what I need to do to come back stronger. I made too many mistakes overall but the positive I will take away is the performance of the car," added Hamilton.