George Russell sends X-rated radio message to Mercedes after losing out to Lewis Hamilton

George Russell swore over the radio as he apologised to his Mercedes team after being overtaken by Lewis Hamilton at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.

Russell started the race 11th after a poor qualifying session, but was soon making up ground. He had gained several places, including a cheeky overtake on Lance Stroll in the pit lane under safety car conditions which was deemed legal by the stewards.

He was sixth when the green flags began to fly, but was caught off guard by them. Stroll was soon back ahead of the Mercedes racer after getting a jump on him, and he was soon under pressure from his team-mate.

When DRS was enabled, Hamilton wasted no time before moving back past his fellow Brit. Annoyed with himself, he quickly got onto the radio to tell his team how he was feeling.

"Well that was a s*** restart, sorry guys," said Russell as Hamilton came roaring past him. But he was still running eighth, three positions higher than he started and well placed to bring points home on a difficult weekend for Mercedes.

Hamilton was two placed ahead of him in sixth, but the Aston Martins ahead of them were proving tricky to catch. Stroll was doing well to keep Russell behind him, while Fernando Alonso went one better to overtake Carlos Sainz and put the Ferrari between himself and the seven-time world champion.

Russell's blunt message to Mercedes over the radio during the Azerbaijan race (Sky Sports)

And Hamilton was soon complaining that he was seeing more degradation than expected on the hard compound tyres they had fitted when pitting during that safety car period. But on lap 24, Russell spotted an opportunity ahead of him.

He told his team over the radio that he was spotting graining on Stroll's tyres and asked them to consider "plan B". Clearly, the Brit felt it was likely the Aston Martin racer would have to pit again before the end of the race.

At the front, Max Verstappen had jumped Charles Leclerc early on to take the lead but lost places with the safety car. It wasn't long before he was back ahead of the Ferrari, but Red Bull team-mate Sergio Perez had the lead and was keeping the Dutchman at arm's length in the middle part of the race.