"Staying out of trouble" was key to the Baku race, reveals Russell

"Staying out of trouble" was key to the Baku race, Mercedes driver George Russell has revealed after securing his seventh podium finish of the 2025 F1 season.

George Russell endured a scrappy opening lap at last Sunday's Azerbaijan Grand Prix, but he managed to display brilliant pace on his hard tyres, extending his first stint.

The Mercedes man, who had missed all media sessions earlier during the weekend due to illness, rejoined the track in second place after his sole pit stop and managed to clinch his seventh podium finish of the season.

His team-mate Kimi Antonelli narrowly missed out on the final step of the podium, having run well all day. The Italian looked in contention for the podium places, but he pitted early which may have been a mistake considering his team-mate’s pace on worn tyres.

Despite his first podium since the Hungarian Grand Prix, Russell had a tough weekend behind himself. The Mercedes driver 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.

Russell admitted that "staying out of trouble" was key to the Baku race after securing his seventh podium finish of the 2025 F1 season.

"I think it was just staying out of trouble, to be honest. I don’t think we had a spectacular weekend, to be honest. And, obviously, Carlos just did an amazing job, and Liam also did a great job yesterday qualifying ahead of us.

"But all of the cars who we ordinarily fight sort of made mistakes or underperformed, and we sort of picked up the pieces. So, obviously, really happy to finish P2 all things considered. But also, I think the cool temps helped us a little bit. So just good to capitalise on all of those things".

Pressed on to reveal whether Mercedes has a 'qualifying' or a 'race' car, Russell stressed that his W16's competitiveness is track-dependent and things can be very different again in the hot conditions of next weekend's Singapore Grand Prix.

"I think it’s very dependent circuit to circuit. Definitely, this weekend, the conditions and the circuit layout probably suited our car better than we’ll see in Singapore.

"But right now, the field is so compact and overtaking is pretty difficult. So it seems like anybody can do an amazing lap and get themselves up the order. And, to be honest, it’s pretty incredible seeing the likes of Carlos, Hülkenberg, Hadjar on the podium this season.