Russell Holds Off Verstappen by a Tenth to Win Baku Grand Prix
George Russell completed a dominant weekend with victory in Saturday's Azerbaijan Grand Prix, but it came down to the wire. A Bottas crash into the barriers on the final lap brought out yellow flags at just the right moment for the Mercedes driver, who crossed the line a mere tenth of a second ahead of a hard-charging Verstappen. Hadjar capped a strong first weekend back from injury with third, while Leclerc and Antonelli completed the top five, with Hamilton sixth and a late-race pass on Ocon giving Lindblad seventh.
Russell built an early cushion from pole, stretching his lead past ten seconds before a mid-race Safety Car for Albon's heavy crash into the barriers bunched the field back up. A second Safety Car followed soon after when a three-car incident at the restart eliminated Norris, Gasly and Colapinto, while Lindblad clashed with his own team mate Lawson in the same melee. Alonso's miserable weekend ended in retirement too, and Stroll was stopped separately with a water pressure issue Aston Martin said they were investigating.
The restart set up the race's best battle, as Verstappen closed right onto Russell's gearbox but could never find a way past, his pace advantage down the straights wasn't matched by anything he could use into Turn 1. Piastri, promoted by the early Safety Cars, put in one of his stronger defensive drives of the season to hold second for long spells before a late lock-up on his medium tyres dropped him out of the points entirely.
Antonelli's recovery drive was the other story of the afternoon. Starting 16th after his Qualifying crash, he picked his way back through the field lap by lap, aided by the two Safety Car periods, to eventually finish fifth, cutting into what could have been a much bigger points swing had Russell's win gone completely unanswered. Even so, Russell's 25 points to Antonelli's 10 keeps Mercedes' teammate battle for the championship very much alive.
It capped a weekend that lived up to Baku's reputation for chaos: two Safety Cars, multiple retirements, grid penalties for Alonso, Stroll, Perez and Sainz before the race even started, and a final-lap incident that nearly turned the lead battle on its head. Russell will take real confidence from a maiden win at a track where he'd previously only managed podiums, while Verstappen leaves empty-handed despite arguably the pace to have won it.