Mercedes
Russell began fourth and ran fourth for the majority of the day. He finds himself on the man’s land, away from the front runner’s pace, but the people behind him were not very visible. He also made the right phone call at the right time, inherited the third when Piastri left, and did not make a mistake in grabbing the well-earned podium. As for Antoneri, he energized the early parts of the race with some good overtaking. He continued to climb the field and won the flag in fourth, but fell to fifth thanks to an unsafe release time penalty. It later overthrew so he finished an impressive P4 with his debut.
Read more: Antonelli has been promoted to P4 due to Australia’s Grand Prix penalty overturned
George Russell, third
“It wasn’t an easy race for anyone, so I’m happy to have brought it home in P3 and have the first podium finish of a new season. Keeping it up from time to time was a challenge, especially in a state of change. It was enough to fight for the podium, but we know that if we want to challenge McLaren in normal circumstances, we have to find more speed.
“You did an amazing job in his first race. It’s impressive to see you through from P16 to P4 anytime. It’s great to do that at the Grand Prix.
You Antoneri, fourth
“It was an incredibly eventful race! The conditions were very tricky. There were so many different conditions today, but I think we did a good job as a team. We managed everything from start to finish, started P4 and started P16. We were happy to have a pace to challenge McLaren, picking up silverware is always a good thing.
“The whole weekend was a good learning experience. It was clearly a shame that I was knocked out in the first quarter after yesterday’s floor damage. But today’s bouncing, and having a lot of experience in one race, is really good for my development as an F1 driver.
Toto Wolf, head of Mercedes-Benz Motorsports
“Both drivers did an amazing job today in very challenging circumstances. George drove an amazing race to finish on the podium and I’m pleased on our Sunday.
“McLaurence today was very fast. I know we have to find more performances so that we can challenge them in normal circumstances. But we can move forward clearly over the winter. We can be encouraged by that. Both drivers work well together.
Andrew Schovlin, Director of Trackside Engineering
“We can be pleased with the start of today’s new season. The conditions were difficult for both the driver and the team. They handled everything the race could throw calmly and efficiently. We had a lot of different conditions out there.
“George drove a race that was considered and maximized the results as much as possible. We didn’t have the pace to challenge the McLaren on the front, so we focused on saving intermediate tires in the first half of the race. He got through the field early on and others were on track when it was raining.
“We are now heading to China and continuing to build knowledge of W16 and performance relative to our competitors. We provide useful learning as it is a very different type of circuit than Melbourne.
