It was a strong Azerbaijan Grand Prix for the Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team, who did well to capitalise on Scuderia Ferrari’s double retirement and finish third and fourth at the Baku City Circuit.
George Russell had a very lonely race, with the double Ferrari DNF leaving the British driver all on his own. Russell drove maturely to secure another third-place finish for the Silver Arrows.
Lewis Hamilton on the other hand had to work for his fourth-place, the seven-time World Champion suffered from back pain all race after the porpoising issue seemed worse than it ever has been. Hamilton twice had to work his way through the order, after pitting during the two Virtual Safety Cars. The 37-year-old did well late on to close down Pierre Gasly, who attempted a one-stop.
Team Principal Toto Wolff analysed the Grand Prix following their strong result, and was completely honest about the position the team are currently in.
“This is where we are at the moment – not as quick as the front runners but clear of the midfield. We never enjoy our rivals’ misfortune, we want to see a strong fight at the front and we’re hoping to catch up and join so there’s six of us there fighting. A strong job from George today, he managed the race and took his podium well. We need to find a solution for the bouncing because the car we gave Lewis today was so tough to drive, you could see the pain in his back all weekend.
“After running on Friday, we knew we had big limitations with the car in Baku so it was a case of maximising our strategy, driving and our operations. The team did a great job on all three to ensure we were in the mix and ready to take advantage of any opportunity that came our way.
“Today, it paid off and we leave Baku with a good haul of points but we are under no illusion of the job we have ahead of us to get back to the front. There are no holy cows, everything is being looked at and we’ve got a great team trying to solve our issues.”
“We’ve got to improve the ride quality” – Mercedes’ Andrew Shovlin
Mercedes’ Trackside Engineering Director, Andrew Shovlin, fully agreed with every point Wolff raised. The porpoising really was horrific down the 2.22km straight, with Hamilton visibly struggling to get out of his W13 post race.
Shovlin knows the team have to get on top of the issue, with the W13 currently being “not acceptable” to drive.
“We can be pleased with the result today as we’ve achieved the maximum possible – both drivers raced well, the strategy was good and it was a welcome reward to see George on the podium again. However, we were lucky to inherit the Ferrari positions today, the gaps to the front are just as big as Monaco, we’re currently heading up the midfield and that won’t leave anyone in Brackley or Brixworth satisfied.
“So, lots of work to do to; we’ve got to improve the ride quality for the drivers as they have tolerated it today but it’s not acceptable to put them through that every Sunday and we’ve clearly got to find a huge chunk of laptime. The bumpier tracks seem to be a particular problem for us and Montreal is not especially smooth so we’ve got one area there to work on over the next few days before we get running again. The team is determined to continue pushing to find solutions, to find performance and to get back to racing at the front.”
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