Mercedes was brilliant on the hards, claims Russell
Having benefitted from the high-speed crash between Sergio Perez and Carlos Sainz, Mercedes driver George Russell cut a positive figure after securing a surprise podium at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.
George Russell was unable to challenge for a top position in Saturday's qualifying session at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. The Briton was then overtaken at the start and looked to be in a lonely race behind reigning champion Max Verstappen.
But once on the hard tyres his car came alive, and he was able to chase the Red Bull down and pass the Dutchman. After their battle, Russell settled for a fifth-place finish, but with Sergio Perez and Carlos Sainz ending their race in the wall after a high-speed crash on the penultimate lap, the Mercedes man grabbed a surprise podium finish on the challenging streets of Baku.
Reflecting on his race, Russell commented: "It was a really strange race today. It was very difficult on the Medium tyre in my first stint. I was over one second off the ultimate pace and finding it hard to control the rear tyre surface temperatures.
"On the Hard tyre in my second stint, the car felt brilliant. In the final 20 laps, I was lapping one second quicker than those at the very front. It is hard to work out exactly why this was and is a little frustrating.
"We were fortunate to get onto the podium and I am glad that both Carlos (Sainz) and Checo (Perez) are OK. We were having a relatively quiet run to P5 after I got past Verstappen, but we will take it. It is a good reward for all the efforts of the team after a challenging weekend on the whole."
His team-mate Lewis Hamilton endured a tough qualifying on Saturday as he struggled for tyre temperatures despite the relateively warm track surface.
The Briton secured a seventh starting position, but he eventually started from the pit lane after taking a raft of new PU components. He managed to overtake some midfield cars early on in the 51-lap race, and he also benefitted from the Perez-Sainz crash to take home some two points.
The seven-time world champion noted: "Today was a difficult race. We had a good day on Friday, but the rest of the weekend was tough. We made some changes heading into Saturday that didn’t work out, but we had to live with them.
"We also knew it would be challenging to overtake today. Despite the long straight, it is hard to follow through the second sector. Franco Colapinto and Oliver Bearman, who I was racing for a lot of the afternoon, did such a great job. It is great to see the youngsters like them coming through and doing so well. For their first and second races, it was very impressive.
"Despite how tough my own race was, the positives are that George had a decent race and was able to score some good points for the team. We’ve also got lots of data to work through ahead of Singapore. We’ve got some upgrades coming before the end of the year so hopefully we can make a step closer to those at the front soon."
