George Russell took a dominant victory from pole to flag at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix to give his world championship hopes a shot in the arm. His Mercedes teammate and title leader Kimi Antonelli delivered a strong comeback to claim fifth from 16th on the grid, but the British driver clawed back 15 points on the Italian. Russell delivered a drive that was all but flawless, including managing two tense restarts after the safety car was called.
He was hounded to the line by Max Verstappen, his margin at the line just one-tenth of a second. Verstappen produced a fine drive from eighth on the grid, with the Dutchman’s Red Bull teammate Isack Hadjar third. Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton were forth and sixth for Ferrari, while the defending world champion, Lando Norris, retired when he was hit after a clash between the two Alpine cars on a restart.
His McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri had been in the podium places for much of the race until a late lock-up dropped him out of the points. The win means Russell has closed the gap to Antonelli to 66 points with eight meetings remaining. His first win in Baku and his third of the year is exactly what the British driver needed.
He has suffered poor luck this season but also struggled to adjust as well as Antonelli to the new regulations and the new cars. Yet when he is on it, as he was in every session in Baku, he is all but untouchable. A repeat of this form and he might yet believe he is able to bridge the gap to his teammate.
The result must also be considered a good return for Antonelli. Having made an error in qualifying, clipping the barrier early in the session, to come back to fifth was an impressive feat of damage limitation. It demonstrated the 20-year-old’s impressive racecraft, the second time he has been tasked with plotting his way through the field, having driven from 19th to the win at Monza.
Russell held his lead on the short dash into turn one as Piastri moved past Leclerc to take second, but Antonelli lost a place, dropping to 17th. Verstappen was rapid too, moving from eighth on the grid to sixth by lap two. The Red Bull was clearly quick as Hadjar and Verstappen then passed Norris for fourth and fifth on lap three.
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