In the round-up: Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff says the team know they weren’t quick enough for third place on merit in the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.
In brief
George Russell was promoted from fifth to third by the collision between Carlos Sainz Jnr and Sergio Perez at the end of the race. Wolff said the team know that flattered their performance in Baku.
“Inheriting a podium and finishing third is better than we expected, but we are not fooling ourselves that, on pace today, we were P5,” said Wolff.
“We will analyse the race and weekend as a whole. The second half of 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 stages.”
Lewis Hamilton finished ninth after starting from the pit lane following a power unit change. “It was more difficult for Lewis with the traffic he faced but at moments, he showed good speed,” said Wolff.
Maini penalised for F2 start crash
Formula 2 driver Kush Maini received an unusual penalty for causing a crash at the start of yesterday’s feature race when he failed to pull away from the line. He was hit by Oliver Goethe and Pepe Marti in a crash which forced the race to be stopped.
The stewards ruled Maini stalled his car because he failed to follow its starting procedure correctly. They disqualified him from the race on and gave him a 10-second time penalty which, as he did not finish the race, becomes a five-place grid drop for the next race. Maini was also given two penalty points on his licence.
“The stewards determined that the driver of car nine [Maini] failed to engage the start set-up procedure for the start of the race,” they noted. “As a result of this error the car stalled on the grid and a collision involving at least two other cars followed. The driver of car nine is found to be wholly responsible for this collision.”
McLaren fined for pit infringement
McLaren were fined €5,000 (£4,200) as members of their team entered the pit lane prior to the end of the race as they were heading to the parc ferme.
“While it is not unusual for team personnel to move towards the parc ferme area before the end of the race, McLaren had team members and equipment in the pit lane while other teams were still pitting and thus created a potentially unsafe…
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at RaceFans…