George Russell claimed a lights-to-flag victory at the Azerbaijan GP 2026, holding off a charging Max Verstappen by only 0.195 in a tense finale match in Baku.
The Mercedes driver led from pole but saw his 11 sec lead wiped out by two safety car periods, leaving him to defend desperately in the closing laps.
Russell said: “When the yellow flag came out, I had no turbo, so then I had no power. Max almost got me at the line. All in all, an incredible weekend.”
The win cuts teammate Kimi Antonelli’s championship lead from 81 points to 66. Antonelli recovered from 16th on the grid to finish fifth following a Q1 crash, calling it “my worst performance of the year.”
Driver of the Day went to Isack Hadjar, who took third on his return after three races out with a wrist injury, sealing Red Bull’s first double podium since 2024.
“I’m very happy to be on my first proper podium for pure pace,” he said.
Charles Leclerc finished fourth, while Lewis Hamilton was sixth after a frustrating race. Mercedes extended their constructors’ lead to 160 points over Ferrari. F1 now heads to Malaysia for the Bahrain Grand Prix at Sepang, with eight rounds left.
2026-09-26 19:47:00
