George Russell delivered his finest drive of the 2026 Formula 1 season in Baku on Sunday, winning the Azerbaijan Grand Prix from pole position and holding off Max Verstappen at the finish line by just one tenth of a second — his third victory of the year and his first at this circuit.
The victory is exactly what Russell needed. He has closed the gap to championship leader Kimi Antonelli from 81 points to 66, with eight rounds remaining. Antonelli, who clipped the wall in qualifying and started 16th, clawed back to fifth in what was another remarkable damage-limitation exercise for the 20-year-old Italian.
Verstappen produced one of his best drives of the season from eighth on the grid, ultimately running Russell all the way to the flag. Red Bull teammate Isack Hadjar was third. Charles Leclerc finished fourth for Ferrari and Lewis Hamilton sixth, with the gap between them occupied by Antonelli in fifth. Defending champion Lando Norris retired after being collected by the two Alpine cars in a restart collision. Oscar Piastri had been running in the podium positions for much of the race before a late lock-up dropped him out of the points entirely.
How Russell Won It
Russell led from the very first corner and kept his composure through two safety car periods and two restarts — both of which presented real opportunities for the race to be wrested away from him. It was not.
Verstappen was on a new engine and made rapid progress from the start, reaching third by lap seven and spending several laps applying pressure to Piastri before finding a gap on the restart following the second safety car period. From that moment, he was on Russell’s gearbox, attempting to use DRS and overtake mode on Baku’s long main straight to find a way past. He could not. Russell, managing his tyres and his nerves, weathered the pressure through the final laps and crossed the line first with a tenth of a second to spare.
“When he is on it, as he was in every session in Baku, he is all but untouchable,” one observer noted of Russell’s weekend. The British driver has had an inconsistent season, struggling at times to adapt to the new regulations as naturally as Antonelli has, but days like Sunday suggest the title is not mathematically beyond him.
Antonelli’s Recovery
Antonelli’s fifth place from 16th on the grid was the second time this season he has been required to drive through the field after a qualifying mistake — the other was at Monza, where he came from 19th to win outright. He did not have that kind of pace on Sunday, but the controlled progress from 17th to fifth demonstrated the racecraft and composure that have defined his championship season. He was 16th by lap five, 14th by lap six, and methodically moved forward through the safety car periods and restarts until he had recovered to fifth and passed Hamilton on lap 42 to consolidate the position.
The 15-point swing in Russell’s favour is significant. With eight meetings remaining, 66 points is a substantial but not insurmountable lead, particularly as Norris’s retirement reduces his threat from third in the standings.
The championship resumes at Turkey next weekend.
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