Mercedes was better than expected in Baku for Russell

Mercedes once again managed to optimize their results this weekend. Thanks to the double retirement of the Ferraris, the Silver Arrows finished third and fourth at the Grand Prix. George Russell secured his third podium of the season, while Lewis Hamilton, physically affected by the bumps of his W13, still managed to bring home valuable points with a fourth-place finish.

And according to George Russell, these results were completely unexpected by the team this weekend, even if we remove Sainz and Leclerc’s retirements. « It’s always a team effort. We need to be there at the end. We would have liked to be a bit more in the fight. We were probably not as far off as we had hoped to be honest. We were a bit faster than expected, especially compared to the midfield, so there is some positive, but there is obviously work to be done. »

The 24-year-old Brit continues his impressive streak of top 5 finishes this season. « You have to take the positive from every situation. We have been in the top 5 in every race with a car that wasn’t always capable, so as a team, we have fully maximized that. I don’t see any race where we could have probably scored more. It’s brilliant from that point of view. We keep getting points, but ultimately, we need more performance. »

George Russell secures his fourth place in the drivers’ standings. The Briton is only 17 points behind Charles Leclerc after eight races.