Russell wins by one tenth from Verstappen in chaotic Azerbaijan Grand Prix
George Russell took his third victory of 2026 in Baku from Max Verstappen and Isack Hadjar, in a race packed with Safety Car drama, seven retirements, and plenty of action.
Race Report
As the five lights went out, a good launch for Piastri promoted him to second ahead of Leclerc, as Russell maintained the lead on the medium tyres. Further back, Norris had jumped Hadjar for fourth.
Meanwhile, a cautious Antonelli had a slow start and lost a position, dropping to 17th. Another driver starting out of position was Max Verstappen, who by Lap 2, made up two positions, one from Lewis Hamilton.
The Red Bulls then went on a double attack, as Hadjar retook his spot from Norris who was swiftly passed by a charging Verstappen too. By Lap 3, the top 10 was occupied by Russell, Piastri, Leclerc, Hadjar, Verstappen, Norris, Hamilton, Pierre Gasly, Franco Colapinto and Liam Lawson.
Hadjar was on a roll through the opening laps, sailing past Leclerc for third on his first race after sitting out for three rounds after a wrist injury. Piastri in second was quickly warned about the attacking Bulls, McLaren encouraging their driver to pick up the pace.
Behind the leading pack, Antonelli had managed to climb up to 14th by Lap 6.
The Red Bull pair were now running together, with Hadjar opening the door for Verstappen to pass him as per team orders. This allowed the Dutchman to begin chasing down Piastri for second.
Elsewhere, Lance Stroll had been told to stop the car, the Aston Martin driver parking up near a run-off area, therefore avoiding an interruption to proceedings.
Down in the midfield, Antonelli had a front row seat to a battle between Lawson and Alex Albon which hindered his charge, but the Mercedes driver soon managed to pass both cars to continue his upward climb.
By Lap 15, Russell was seven seconds ahead of the pack in the lead.
Down in sixth, Norris went in deep at Turn 5, giving Hamilton the opportunity to quickly pass him. Meanwhile, Antonelli had just entered the top 10, finding himself behind the Alpine pair.
Another pair running line astern was Red Bull, with their strategies split but Hadjar on the softs content to sit behind Verstappen on the mediums whom he encouraged to push. As Verstappen began to struggle on his tyres, Hadjar informed his team that he had more pace to unleash if needed.
As Russell continued to stretch his legs in the lead, he’d build a near 10-second gap to Piastri in second. But it sounded like trouble could potentially brew as the Briton came over the radio to ask his team to check his tyres after brushing the walls at Turn 15.
Over at Red Bull, tensions were rising as the teammates had now begun to duel, and Hadjar became impatient to switch positions again.
On Lap 30, Norris had a lock-up and dropped to ninth, just as the turning point of the race came with a crash from Albon, who locked up and pierced his car into the barriers. The full Safety Car was called, with everyone scurrying into the pits for their first stops.
The race intervention wiped Russell’s 11-second lead, bunching the pack up. Behind the Safety Car, the top 10 order was Russell, Piastri, Verstappen, Hadjar, Leclerc, Hamilton, Gasly, Antonelli, Norris and Colapinto.
On Lap 35, the Safety Car was recalled, as Russell took the field back to racing as Verstappen got past Piastri, but it was chaos at the restart with Colapinto, Gasly, and Norris involved in a three-car pile up with Colapinto getting too opportunistic and taking the other two cars out with him.
Meanwhile, both Racing Bulls cars also made contact, with Lawson being tagged by Lindblad sending the former spinning, but able to continue.
A second Safety Car was necessitated on Lap 36 of 51, after which on our next return to green flag conditions, Piastri locked-up and found the run-off area, dropping him all the way down to 15th.
This promoted Hadjar to the podium, as further back, fellow 2025 rookie made a move on Hamilton for fifth.
Meanwhile, the gap between Russell and Verstappen was now tantalising, just sixth tenths between the top two.
With under 10 laps to go, the top 10 was occupied by Russell, Verstappen, Hadjar, Leclerc, Antonelli, Hamilton, Ocon, Bearman, Lindblad and Nico Hülkenberg.
Verstappen brushed the wall into Turn 16 in his hunt for victory, losing a tenth and giving Russell slightly more room to breathe. The tense charge continued, into the final laps, with Russell and Verstappen battling with nothing between them, setting us up for a drag race to the finish line.
It was a heart-racing moment for Russell as he too brushed the wall, but after lap after lap being chased down by Verstappen.
In the dying moments of the race, Cadillac's Valtteri Bottas became the seventh retirement from the race after crashing into the barriers and bringing out yellow flags, but through all the drama and tension, Russell held Verstappen at bay to take a dominant lights-to-flag victory in Baku.
Up Next
We have an exciting round coming up, with the called off Bahrain Grand Prix now moving to Sepang in Malaysia. Tune in as we revisit Sepang for the first time since 2017 from 2nd to 4th October.
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