Mercedes
In the cooler conditions, Mercedes once again came to the fore. Antonelli was strong from word go, pressuring Lawson in the first stint. Russell had to battle back past Tsunoda, but was soon on his team mate’s tail. Mercedes pitted Antonelli early to undercut Lawson, and while that did not initially work, the teenager was able to pick off his Kiwi rival on track. Russell stayed out for a very long first stint and managed to overcut both his team mate at Sainz. From there the podium was assured, an impressive effort considering how unwell he has been. Antonelli could not chase down Sainz for the rostrum, but P4 is his best result since Canada.
George Russell, 2nd
“I am really happy to be back on the podium. It’s been a tough run of races recently and I also have not felt well this weekend. That made today even more challenging than it could have been, so I am very pleased to finish P2. I was pretty glad when I saw the chequered flag! Congratulations to Carlos (Sainz) and Williams too. That was a very well-deserved result for them.
“On our side, the car felt great throughout and Kimi did a superb job to bring home P4 too. That is important points for the team as we look to battle Ferrari and Red Bull for second in the Constructors’ Championship. Hopefully we can build on this result over what is sure to be a tight battle across the final seven races of the season.”
Kimi Antonelli, 4th
“Today was a much better Grand Prix than I’ve had in recent races. That said, I am still slightly disappointed that I wasn’t able to get myself on the podium. We were closing in on Carlos (Sainz) in the final few laps, but I just couldn’t quite find the pace to get within DRS range and then attempt an overtake. He did a great job so congratulations to both him and Williams.
“Whilst I was hoping for more, today was still a decent result and with George in second, a good day for us as a team. We gained a lot of points on Ferrari which is a positive and moved back into second in the Constructors’ Championship. The pace across the field is tight but hopefully we can carry the momentum from here in Baku into Singapore in two weeks’ time.”
Toto Wolff, Head of Mercedes-Benz Motorsport
“That was a strong weekend for us as a team, and we come away from Azerbaijan with a good result. It felt good to get back on the podium in P2 and for Kimi to bring home solid points in P4. Of course, we are always hoping to be on the top step of the podium, but this gives us some positive momentum after two difficult races after the summer break.
“Congratulations to Carlos (Sainz), James (Vowles), and Williams on their P3 too. That was totally earned on merit. Kimi did what he could to get close enough to attack but their pace was a bit too strong. Kimi nevertheless did a great job to get past (Liam) Lawson; we saw how several cars such as the Ferrari of Leclerc and the Red Bull of Tsunoda were unable to do so when they were in DRS range. He will use this weekend to take momentum into the final seven races. George meanwhile drove a fantastic race; he’s been suffering with illness all weekend and it was touch-and-go whether he’d even be able to drive on Friday and Saturday. It was a big push from him and to perform like this was mega.”
Andrew Shovlin, Trackside Engineering Director
“We’ve had a solid weekend throughout here in Azerbaijan and that continued into today. We executed the race well on both sides of the garage to get ourselves back on the podium and bring home good points in P4 too. We’d not run the medium or hard tyres in free practice, so it was good to see that the car was well balanced on both compounds. We elected to split the start tyre strategies with the lack of long run data and so many cars out of position. George used this to good effect in his first stint to build a gap that, with a perfectly executed pit stop by our mechanics, gave him P2 on track. It was an impressive performance, particularly given that he has not been feeling 100 per cent this weekend.
“For Kimi, it was a solid weekend from start-to-finish. He looked after his Medium tyres early on and was then able to jump Lawson for P4 with a pass on track. He closed on Sainz in the closing stages, but the pace of the Williams and the difficult following meant he had to settle for a spot just off the podium. Nevertheless, he has shown what he is capable of after some tough weekends recently and we are sure he will build on this in the closing stages of the season.”
