George Russell was left surprised after his podium finish at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix on Sunday, but tempered Mercedes' expectations for the rest of the season. (More Motorsport News)
Russell, who started fifth on the grid in Baku, inherited third place🌱 on the penultimate lap of p🦂roceedings after Sergio Perez's collision with Carlos Sainz.
The Briton claimed his third podium f🅠or Mercedes this season, while team-matꦡe Lewis Hamilton made it double points for the Silver Arrows after finishing ninth.
Russell moved level with Red Bull's Perez in the drivers' championship and is 🦋now 23 points behind Hamilton ahead of the final seven races.
H𒀰owever, Russell acknowledged where Mercedes rank𒁏ed in the pecking order at the end of a tricky weekend that saw the team complete two power unit changes.
“Defin෴itely surprised,” Russell said about his podium finish. “I think there was so much hard work this weekend for everybody in the team.
"Therꦑe were engine chan🌌ges on my side, engine changes for Lewis, so much going on, everybody was working so hard.
“We had a really bad start to the race. I was dropping off a l𝔍ot, but on the hard tyre I think weꦚ were one of the quickest out there and that was great.
"Got past Max, so an added bonus to stand o💎n the podium.
“I mean we’ve got to be realistic still. We should’🥃ve fi♐nished fifth today. That was the true result.
"Obviously, with Lando [Norris’] qualifying yesterday, ✨he probably would’ve been up there as well, ꦚso I don’t want to get carried away with ourselves with this podium today.
"We’ve got a lot of work to do. Hopefully, Singapore’s a slightly be𒉰t🌺ter weekend.”
As for Hamilton, having taken on a🍷 raft of new power unit components after qualifying, he was resigned to a long afternoon after his pit lane start.
He made up plenty of ground early on, and aꦫgain after his pit stop, but spent much of the latter part of the race battling Franco Colapinto and Oliver Bearman.
Colapinto impressed in just his second race for Williams, scoring four points after f𝓀inishing in eighth, while team-mate Alex Albon finished one place in front.
And Bearman, who replaced the suspenꩲded Kevi😼n Magnussen for Haas, completed the top 10, which came with a record-breaking achievement.
The 19-year-old became the first driver to score points for two different teams in his firꩵst two Formula Oneꦉ races, having made his debut in March for Ferrari as a last-minute replacement for Sainz at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, finishing in seventh.
Seven-time world champion Hamilton showered praise on the t෴wo rookies after the race, with the Briton, who will be replaced by youngster Kimi Antonelli at Mercedes next season, insisting the future is bright for the sport.
“Today was a difficult race,” Hamilton said.
"“We had a good day on Friday, but the rest of the weekend was tough. We made some chan👍ges heading into Satu♊rday that didn’t work out, but we had to live with them.
“We also knew it would be൩ challenging to overtake today. Despite the ꦅlong straight, it is hard to follow through the second sector.
"Franco Colapinto and Oliver Bearman, 🃏who I was racing for a lot of the afternoon, did such a great job.
"It is great t🌃o see the youngsters like them coming t🎃hrough and doing so well. For their first and second races, it was very impressive.”
