Hamilton still 'won' in Azerbaijan: 'Mercedes would have signed up for that'

Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton both fail to score points in the world championship. For both, it will feel like a loss, although Alex Jacques thinks Mercedes will leave Azerbaijan with the best feeling.

For a long time, it looked like it was going to be a great weekend for Red Bull Racing. With Max Verstappen on P1, Sergio Perez on P2, Lewis Hamilton on P3 and Valtteri Bottas on P10, Red Bull was going to make a huge impact in the drivers and constructors championship. Verstappen's crash caused a lot of points to go up in smoke, but a mistake by Hamilton evened the score.

Will Mercedes win?

Yet Formula 2 commentator, Alex Jacques, thinks Hamilton and Mercedes will be the most positive after this weekend. "It's still kind of a win for Hamilton in a way. It won't feel like that because he's missed an open goal to really make it a win, but he was going to lose 11 points to Verstappen, or at least 10," Jacques said at the Chequered Flag Podcast.

"With Red Bull at 1 and 2, Hamilton settled in third, the gap would have gone to 14 or 15 points. So with Verstappen out, then Hamilton out, four points is sort of fine on a track that Mercedes have struggled on a lot from the word go on Friday. Obviously, Hamilton would be and is gutted that he didn't win the race or even finish on the podium," concludes the Formula 2 commentator.