Mercedes insist they will not be blinded byꦺ George Russell’s unexpected podium in💎 Baku.

Russell was set to finish fifth at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix on a forgettable weekend fo🦄r his F1 team until a crash wiped out Sergio Perez and Carlos Sainz, and gifted him a P3 finish.

He had pr༒eviously taken advantage of hard tyres to overtake Max Verstappen.

"It was nice to get a car on the podium, but🍌ღ we aren’t fooling ourselves,” Andrew Shovlin, Mercedes’ Trackside Engineering Director, said.

“This weekend hasn’t b⛎een good enough and we need to improve. The first stint for both drivers was weak.

“We couldn't stop the rear tyres from overheating, and, at one point, it was lookin𒐪g like we were in for 💃a very difficult afternoon.

"The hard tyre suited us much better. George had clean air to work out how to get the best out 💙of the tyres and maintain them in a good window.

“That served him well later in the race. We'd lost too much time early on in the race to stick with the leaders, but it was good to get the pass on Ver🤡stappen done and that proved crucial for the podium.”

Lewis Hamilton’s Az🎃erbaijan Grand Prix nev𝔉er got started.

He started from the pitlane be𓆏cause his Mercedes took new power unit components, and finished ninth.

"Lewis' race was difficult as he kept bumping into DRS trains and just couldn't make it through them,” S✨hovlin said.

“The closer 🌳he got to the cars ahead the more tyre overheating he suffered with.

“Regardless, we were not strong enough here to get a podium on merit and that's what we need to put our e๊fforts into resolving.

“We've got a different💃 challenge in Singapore next week but are looking forwa✱rd to getting back on track."

Toto Wolff added: "We will take the positive from today that we were able to💎 get one car on the podium. 

"We saw�𒆙� that it was getting feisty at the front and that ultimately ended with Sainz and Perez in the wall. 

"Inheriting a podium and finishing third is better than we expected but we are not fooling ourselves that, on pace today, we were P5👍.

"We will analyse the race and weekend as a whole. The second half o💞f our grand prix on the hard tyre was encouraging. 

"George was able to keep the temperatures under control and, having driven within himself early in the stint, was able to deliver strong pace in the closing sta🐓ges. 

"Itꦛ was more difficult for Lewis with the traffic he faced but at moments, he showed good♔ speed. 

"We now head to Singapore, and it is another difficult circuit to know how everyone will perform. We will dig through the data from this weekend, aꦺim to improve the car balance and have a stronger weekend there."