What the teams said – Race day of the 2024 Azerbaijan Grand Prix

Mercedes

Russell was overtaken at the start and looked set to have a lonely race behind Verstappen. But once he was on the hard tyres his car came to life and he was able to chase down the Red Bull and pass the Dutchman. He looked set to finish fifth until that late crash between Sainz and Perez, perhaps a little lucky to have an unlikely podium at the end of the race. As for Hamilton, he started from the pit lane after taking a set of new PU components. He managed to overtake a number of mid-packers and overtook Bearman in the closing stages, only to profit from that crash too and take home some extra points.

Lewis Hamilton, 9th

“Today was a difficult race. We had a good day on Friday but the rest of the weekend was tough. We made some changes towards Saturday that didn’t work but we had to live with them. We also knew that it would be a challenge to overtake today. Despite the long straight, it’s difficult to get through the second sector. Franco Colapinto and Oliver Bearman, who I raced with for a big part of the afternoon, did a great job. It’s great to see youngsters like them breaking through and doing so well. For their first and second races, it was very impressive.

“Despite how tough my own race was, the positive is that George had a decent race and was able to score some good points for the team. We also have a lot of data to work through before Singapore. We have a number of upgrades for the end of the year, so hopefully we can get a step closer to the front runners soon.”

George Russel, 3rd

“It was a very strange race today. It was very difficult on the Medium tyre in my first stint. I was more than a second off the ultimate pace and found it difficult to control the surface temperature of the rear tyre. On the Hard tyre in my second stint the car felt great. In the last 20 laps I was a second faster than those at the very front. It’s difficult to understand why this was and is a bit frustrating.

“We were lucky to get on the podium and I’m happy that Carlos (Sainz) and Checo (Perez) are both OK. We had a relatively quiet run to P5 after I passed Verstappen, but we’re going for it. It’s a nice reward for all the team’s efforts after an overall challenging weekend.”

Toto Wolff, Head of Mercedes-Benz Motorsport

“We take the positive from today that we managed to get one car on the podium. We saw it getting tight at the front and that ended with Sainz and Perez in the wall. Inheriting a podium and finishing third is better than we expected, but we are not kidding ourselves that we were on pace for P5 today.

“We will analyse the race and the weekend as a whole. The second half of our Grand Prix on the hard tyre was encouraging. George was able to control the temperatures and, after getting within himself early in the stint, he was able to set a strong pace in the closing stages. It was more difficult for Lewis with the traffic he had to deal with, but at times he showed good speed. We now go to Singapore and it is another difficult circuit to know how everyone will perform. We will go through the data from this weekend, try to improve the balance of the car and have a stronger weekend there.”

Andrew Shovlin, Director of Trackside Engineering

“It was nice to get a car on the podium, but we’re not kidding ourselves; this weekend wasn’t good enough and we need to improve. The first stint for both drivers was weak. We couldn’t prevent the rear tyres from overheating and at one point it looked like we were in for a very difficult afternoon.

“The hard tyre suited us much better. George had clean air to figure out how to get the best out of the tyres and keep them in a good window, which served him well later in the race. We had lost too much time at the beginning of the race to stay with the leaders, but it was good to pass Verstappen and that proved crucial for the podium.

“Lewis’ race was difficult because he kept hitting DRS trains and just couldn’t get through. The closer he got to the cars in front, the more he started to overheat his tyres. In any case, we weren’t strong enough here to earn a podium and that’s where we need to focus our energy. We have a different challenge next week in Singapore, but we’re looking forward to getting back on track.”