George Russell ‘had to bring my A-game’ as he overcomes illness to take second in Baku for Mercedes

George Russell admitted he was “looking forward to a bit of rest” having battled through illness and “bringing his A-game” en route to an impressive second place at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.

Mercedes driver Russell missed media day on Thursday, and was excused from his media duties and the driver briefing on Friday and Saturday in order to best aid his recovery across the weekend in Baku.

Despite feeling under the weather, he was able to deliver a strong performance to take Mercedes’ first podium since the Hungarian weekend having overhauled the likes of Carlos Sainz, Liam Lawson and team mate Kimi Antonelli – all of whom had started ahead of the Briton on the grid.

“I was pretty glad when I saw the chequered flag, to be honest,” said Russell. “Fortunately, I felt much better today than I felt on Friday and Saturday, so I’m looking forward to a bit of rest now.

“I’m just happy with the results. For us as a team, trying to beat Ferrari in the Constructors’, this was a good step towards that.”

An extraordinary Qualifying session featuring a record-breaking six red flags saw Sainz seal an unexpected second place, a position he maintained throughout the first half of the race before Russell extended his first stint and completed an overcut pass on the Spaniard.

“It was a really strong race,” Russell added, reflecting on his day. “Mainly just staying out of trouble. I don’t think we did anything spectacular; it’s just a lot of people made a lot of mistakes this weekend, between Qualifying and the race.

“In normal circumstances, we’d expect to finish ahead of Carlos, but he drove an amazing race, and I had to try and bring my A-game to finish ahead of him.”

Antonelli also enjoyed his strongest showing since the Canadian Grand Prix, and registered points in back-to-back races for the first time since Saudi Arabia and Miami.

“It was a much better race compared to Monza,” he said. “It’s a bit disappointing still, because I was really hoping for the podium and I was so close. I tried to get close to Carlos and eventually almost got into DRS, but then with the dirty air, I started to struggle a little bit.

“But still, a decent result, especially for the team. We gained a lot of points on Ferrari, so that is definitely a positive, and now we move forward.”