Mercedes vow “we aren’t fooling ourselves” after “weak” admission

Mercedes insist they will not be blinded by George Russell’s unexpected podium in Baku.

Russell was set to finish fifth at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix on a forgettable weekend for his F1 team until a crash wiped out Sergio Perez and Carlos Sainz, and gifted him a P3 finish.

He had previously taken advantage of hard tyres to overtake Max Verstappen.

"It was nice to get a car on the podium, but we aren’t fooling ourselves,” Andrew Shovlin, Mercedes’ Trackside Engineering Director, said.

“This weekend hasn’t been good enough and we need to improve. The first stint for both drivers was weak.

“We couldn't stop the rear tyres from overheating, and, at one point, it was looking like we were in for a very difficult afternoon.

"The hard tyre suited us much better. George had clean air to work out how to get the best out of the tyres and maintain them in a good window.

“That served him well later in the race. We'd lost too much time early on in the race to stick with the leaders, but it was good to get the pass on Verstappen done and that proved crucial for the podium.”

Lewis Hamilton’s Azerbaijan Grand Prix never got started.

He started from the pitlane because his Mercedes took new power unit components, and finished ninth.

"Lewis' race was difficult as he kept bumping into DRS trains and just couldn't make it through them,” Shovlin said.

“The closer he got to the cars ahead the more tyre overheating he suffered with.

“Regardless, we were not strong enough here to get a podium on merit and that's what we need to put our efforts into resolving.

“We've got a different challenge in Singapore next week but are looking forward to getting back on track."

Toto Wolff added: "We will take the positive from today that we were able to get one car on the podium. 

"We saw that it was getting feisty at the front and that ultimately ended with Sainz and Perez in the wall. 

"Inheriting a podium and finishing third is better than we expected but we are not fooling ourselves that, on pace today, we were P5.

"We will analyse the race and weekend as a whole. The second half of our grand prix on the hard tyre was encouraging. 

"George was able to keep the temperatures under control and, having driven within himself early in the stint, was able to deliver strong pace in the closing stages. 

"It was more difficult for Lewis with the traffic he faced but at moments, he showed good speed. 

"We now head to Singapore, and it is another difficult circuit to know how everyone will perform. We will dig through the data from this weekend, aim to improve the car balance and have a stronger weekend there."