Satisfaction at Mercedes: 'A decent day in the championship'

In the not-so-distant past, anything but a double podium finsh was a failed Grand Prix for Mercedes. Times have changed. These days, so to speak, the flag goes out when the team gets points. With a fourth (George Russell) and sixth (Lewis Hamilton), some satisfaction could be heard from the German team.

In a Mercedes press release, Andrew Shovlin, the team's technical man, analysed the result: "We can be satisfied with the result today considering our start positions. Our Qualifying performance yesterday meant that the podium places were out of reach for George, and Lewis had a real mountain to climb from 13th," said the Briton.

Shovlin continued, "Nevertheless, through great overtaking and fine teamwork, with Lewis allowing George through to attack cars ahead, we maximised our performance and points. We've therefore had a decent day in the championship; we're in a close fight with Aston Martin and Ferrari and we've gained some ground."

But, Shovlin realised, a win is currently far out of sight for his team. "We know we're still not quick enough though and we're working hard to rectify that as fast as we can. We will go back from here and try and understand why our single lap performance has been such a challenge."