Lewis Hamilton: I hope we will perform better in Baku

In Monaco, Mercedes earned points with two cars. After the finish, George Russell and Lewis Hamilton made no secret of the fact that the weekend turned out to be difficult, but the team gathered useful information about the car, which will come in handy in the next races.

George Russell (5th): “Difficult day, also physically seen due to many bumps and a long wait. It was difficult on the wet track, but the challenge was to stay on the wet tires as long as possible.

After the pit stops I had a tactical battle with Lando Norris. I was fast on the hard tires but it was difficult on the medium in the second half of the race – the tires were very grainy, so fifth place can be considered a good result.

At this track we had to deal with some limitations inherent to our car, but the team has learned a lot and will be able to use the information in the coming weeks to take a step forward. In general a good result. I’m sure we’ll be adding more in the future.”

Lewis Hamilton (8th): “Today was one of those days in Monaco where I got stuck behind other cars and spent most of the race behind them. I just followed, couldn’t catch up.

I was happy with the rain, because it usually creates extra chances. Unfortunately the rain didn’t help us this time and I couldn’t overtake Okon on intermediate tires.

The weekend turned out to be difficult, I was unlucky several times, for example with red flags in qualifying. I want to turn this page and prepare for the stage in Baku. There is a different type of track, although there are slow corners, similar to Monaco. I hope we take a step forward and perform at a higher level, like in Barcelona.”

Toto Wolff, Team Principal: “In the race we saw the usual chaos for Monaco. We need to learn lessons and rethink the track’s configuration – it shouldn’t be someone driving five seconds slower than the rest and gathering a procession behind them. Monaco is a fantastic place with beautiful views, but it will be great when the racing starts at this level.

The constant delays in duration made the race look more like an NFL game than a Grand Prix. However, I don’t know what could have been done differently. We must pay tribute to the drivers of the race, who have faced a difficult situation. At the beginning it started to rain and before that there was a problem connecting the TV broadcast – because of this we couldn’t start the race.

George had a strong race, while Lewis was disappointed with the result. First he got stuck behind Esteban, who was later penalized for a collision, before Lewis ended up behind a very slow Alonso. Without it, he could have competed with Lando and George. It was another reminder that in Monaco everything depends on track position and we are the third fastest team.

This weekend we made useful conclusions about the car. The knowledge gained will form the basis of our work to return to the battle for the first positions.”