Formula 1 in Baku: George Russell wins by 0.1 seconds ahead of Max Verstappen!

It was a commanding performance at first, but it turned out to be a real nail-biter in the end! George Russell (Mercedes) wins the Azerbaijan Grand Prix – a tenth of a second ahead of Max Verstappen (Red Bull Racing)!

The Briton started from pole, whilst Verstappen started from 8th place. But in the end, it was almost a photo finish. Russell managed to hold on at the very last second, though. The Mercedes driver said: “It’s great to be back on the top step of the podium. Thanks to my team, who continued to believe in me even during the tough moments and helped me through it. I’m very proud of this weekend.”

Russell on his race: “The first half of the race was quite relaxed; I was just cruising around the track. And then, of course, the gap was tight after the safety car, especially when I saw Max behind me – I knew it wouldn’t be easy. He drove incredibly well. I then lifted off the throttle during the yellow flag and lost my turbo afterwards. Max almost caught me right on the line.” Laughing, he said: “That would have been a real shame.”

Here’s how the Azerbaijan Grand Prix unfolded:

At the start, pole-setter George Russell got off to a good start and easily defended his lead. As we recall, his Mercedes team-mate Kimi Antonelli started well off the front from 16th on the grid because he’d hit the wall in qualifying on Friday. Charles Leclerc, in second place, got off to a poor start, allowing Oscar Piastri in the McLaren to overtake the Ferrari driver.

Red Bull Racing got off to a really strong start. Max Verstappen, who was only on the eighth grid spot due to an engine issue, really turned up the pace with a fresh engine (from the pool, so without penalty). He overtook Pierre Gasly at Turn 1 after the start and continued to charge his way through the field from there. His team-mate Isack Hadjar also had good pace on his soft tyres (Verstappen was on mediums). On lap 7, Hadjar let Verstappen through. The Dutchman had thus moved up from eighth to third!

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The other driver making up ground was slower to progress. Kimi Antonelli made it into the points on lap 17, was then in tenth place, and on lap 23 he overtook Franco Colapinto to move into ninth.

Another disastrous weekend for Aston Martin: Lance Stroll drove into the run-off area at Turn 15 on lap 9 and was ordered by his team to stop the car. He triggered a brief yellow flag but was able to roll out of the danger zone under his own power. On lap 22, Fernando Alonso came into the pits – and stayed there. The Spaniard retired.

On lap 31, after a suspiciously quiet first half of the Grand Prix, Baku finally lived up to its reputation! Alex Albon drove his Williams head-on into the Techpro barriers at Turn 6 with locked tyres, but was able to get out unharmed. The safety car came out. Madrid déjà vu: Antonelli made a quick pit stop, gaining a position on Norris in the process and moving up to eighth.

The restart then caused even more chaos. At Turn 1, Franco Colapinto took out his team-mate Pierre Gasly and Lando Norris (McLaren). Arvid Lindblad came up from behind and unfortunately caught his team-mate Liam Lawson. Both Alpines were out as a result, as was Norris. Kimi Antonelli was really lucky: the Alpines skidded past him, but the championship leader emerged unscathed. A quick count: 16 cars still in the race. Both Aston Martins, both Alpines, Alex Albon and Lando Norris were out.

What almost went unnoticed: Max Verstappen had overtaken Oscar Piastri at the restart, putting him in second place; Antonelli was seventh after all the commotion. The second restart went off without a hitch this time – Russell remained in the lead ahead of Verstappen, Piastri, Hadjar, Leclerc, Hamilton and Antonelli. A braking error one lap later then nearly sent Piastri to the back of the field. Hadjar took full advantage.

Kimi Antonelli continued to work his way up the field, sitting fifth with two laps to go. Meanwhile, his team-mate George Russell had a highly motivated Max Verstappen hot on his heels. One lap before the leaders crossed the line, Valtteri Bottas (Cadillac) crashed. However, the yellow flag couldn’t disrupt the race any further – George Russell won by the narrowest of margins ahead of Max Verstappen.