Russell explains “embarrassing” sweat or rain confusion in Spanish GP

Russell was the only driver to report rain at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, claiming there were drops at Turn 5 on Lap 27.

Soon after, Russell clarified his initial remark: "Is anyone else reporting rain? I think it's sweat from the inside of my helmet."

Russell was asked about his confusing radio messages in the post-race press conference in Barcelona.

• Hamilton teases Mercedes have “something in the pipeline” to catch Red Bull

Firstly with the sweat, I had my hair dangling down in the first stint, I think I didn’t quite get it in my balaclava and that was annoying me because it was in my peripheral vision,” he said. “And then as I was sweating because it wasn't in my balaclava, it was dripping down onto my face. 

“And then when I was braking, it was coming onto my visor so with the grey clouds, and then the spots of water on the visor I thought it was rain. 

“So that was a bit of an embarrassing one.”

Russell scored his first podium of the year, finishing third after starting from 12th on the grid.

Reflecting on Mercedes’ improved form in Barcelona, he made it clear that they weren’t going to get carried away given Aston Martin and Ferrari’s poor form.

“I think after yesterday we knew it was going to be a challenge but woke up with a bit more positivity and I thought we could definitely move forward, probably fight for P5, P6,” he added. 

“I thought P3 would be a little bit out of reach – but the car was really, really great today; the team did a great job with the strategy and it was a really satisfying race, making some good moves on the people around me. 

• Horner plays down Mercedes improvement: “They were still 23 seconds behind…”

“Huge thanks to the whole team for bringing these updates forward but equally, we’re not going to get carried away just after this one race, because we know it might be slightly different in the future races, and I think generally Aston and Ferrari were a little bit more off the pace than normal.”