Mercedes insist they will not be blinded by George Russell’s unexpected podium in ꦓBaku.

Russell was se🐓t to finish fifth at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix on a forgettable weekend for his F1 team until a crash wiped out Sergio Perez and Carlos Sain🍸z, and gifted him a P3 finish.

Heℱ had🌠 previously taken advantage of hard tyres to overtake Max Verstappen.

"It was nice to get a car on the podium, but we aren’t fooling ourselves,” Andrew Shovlin, Mercedes’ Track൩side Engineering Director, said.

“This weekend hasn’t been good enough and we need to improve. The first stint for both driver🅷s was weak.

“We couldn't stop the rear tyres from overheating, and, at one point, it was look💜ing like we were in for a very difficult af꧂ternoon.

"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 wit🦩h the leaders, but it was good to get the pass on Verstappen done and that proved crucial for the podium.”

Lewis Hamilton’s Azerbaꦑijan Grand Prix never got started.

He started from the pitlane because his Mercedes took🔥 new power unit componen🌺ts, and finished ninth.

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

“The closer he got to the cars ahead the more tyre overheat💃ing 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 efforts 𝓰into resolving.

“We'v💞e got a different challenge in Singapore next week but are looking forwar🍌d 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 that it was getting feis🎀ty at the front and that ultimately ended with Sainz and Perez in the wall. 

"Inheriting a podium and finishing third is ౠbetter 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 whol🧔e. Th✤e second half of our grand prix on the hard tyre was encouraging. 

"George was able to keep the temperatures ไunder control and, having driven within himself early in the stint, was abꦓle to deliver strong pace in the closing stages. 

"It 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 diffic𝔉ult circuit to know how everyone will perform. We will dig through the data from this weekend, aim to improve the car balance and hav🧸e a stronger weekend there."