George Russell: While we have to get through the build-up

The Mercedes drivers finished third and fourth in Baku, but after the finish they stopped talking about the result, but about the ongoing problems with the build-up…

George Russell (3rd): “The car hit the bottom of the tarmac for an hour and a half in every corner and on every lap – it wasn’t easy to resist, now I have to rest. For now, we have to get through this – we haven’t been able to get rid of the build-up quickly, but there are a lot of smart people in the sport, very talented engineers – a solution will be found.

Today we wouldn’t have been able to climb the podium just because of the speed, but the reliability of the car helped – we were ahead of rivals of the teams in the middle group and took advantage of Ferrari’s failure.

We know we are not fast enough yet, there is still a long way to go to improve the efficiency of the car, but we are experimenting and trying different ideas. It will be difficult to turn the tide in the few days before Montreal, but I hope we can get through it soon.”

Lewis Hamilton (4th): “I got through this race on adrenaline, my teeth gritted in pain. I can’t put into words what I felt, especially not in a straight line. But I thought of those who counted on me in the battle for the points.

We got a good result and finished third and fourth. The team did a great job with the strategy. Once we’ve solved this build-up problem, we’ll be able to fight, and as a result, we’ll lose a second on the circle, if not more.

Tomorrow I will be at the base, we will discuss a lot and continue working.”

Andrew Shovlin, Chief Race Engineer: “We can be happy with today’s result, because we have made the most of this situation. Both riders had a good race, we developed an effective strategy – and we were happy to see George back on the podium.

But we were lucky with the Ferrari drivers’ meetings – we inherited their positions and the backlog of the leaders remained as big as in Monaco. Now we are the leaders of the middle group of teams, and in Brackley or Brixworth this doesn’t suit anyone.

We have a lot to do. First of all, you need to get rid of the buildup. Today our riders had to endure pain – it is unacceptable to subject them to such a test every race weekend. And we seriously need to narrow the gap with rivals.

Bumpy trails in particular are a problem for us, and the pavement in Montreal isn’t very slippery either – we’ll have something to think about for the next few days before getting back to work. The team is determined to keep looking for solutions, to accelerate and fight back to the forefront.”