Russell Wins the Formula 1 Azerbaijan Grand Prix in Baku

George Russell withstood Max Verstappen's pressure in the closing laps of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix and took first place in Baku by a minimal margin, in a race in which the safety car came out twice and there were six retirements.

Qualifying explained much of what happened in the race. Russell took pole by the largest margin of the year over Charles Leclerc, which allowed him to control the pace from the start. Kimi Antonelli, on the other hand, hit the wall in the first segment and was relegated to 16th place, far from his teammate. Oscar Piastri and Isack Hadjar started together on the second row, with Lando Norris and Lewis Hamilton immediately behind.

Photo By Red Bull Content Pool

A wrist fracture, suffered during the summer break, had kept Hadjar out of three races. His return to Baku came just as Red Bull confirmed he will stay alongside Verstappen in 2027, and the on-track result backed that confidence. Before the injury he had recorded seven consecutive finishes inside the top six, with third place in Monaco as his best result, and in his first race back he finished in the top three again.

At the start, Russell opened an immediate gap and Piastri moved into second ahead of Leclerc. Behind them, Hadjar and Verstappen began closing on the McLaren and the Ferrari, and Verstappen was given the green light by his team to pass his teammate when Hadjar's car closed to within less than a second of Piastri. From there, the Dutchman focused on pressuring for second place, while Antonelli began a slow, steady recovery from the back of the field.

The first neutralization came when Lance Stroll stopped with a water pressure issue, with no major consequences for the order. The second did change the course of the race. Alex Albon lost control and hit the barriers, forcing Russell, Piastri, Verstappen, Hadjar, Leclerc, and Hamilton to pit almost simultaneously. Red Bull completed the double stack without losing positions, and Verstappen used the restart to take second place from Piastri.

Photo By Red Bull Content Pool

The day's third setback proved the most serious, and also the one that knocked Norris out of a race in which he was fighting for important points for the constructors' championship. Franco Colapinto went deep under braking and hit his teammate Pierre Gasly, whose car also ended up impacting Norris's McLaren; all three were out. In the same section, Arvid Lindblad hit Liam Lawson and cost the New Zealander positions. With the safety car back on track, the group arrived very close together for the next restart, and there Piastri made an error of his own: he went off at turn one and rejoined at the back of the field, in 15th place.

That stumble opened space for Antonelli to keep moving forward. The Italian passed Hamilton with eight laps to go and reached fifth place, a result that ended up being decisive for the championship. At the front, Verstappen stayed glued to Russell's Mercedes and looked for the tow on the main straight; he drew alongside on the final lap, but could not complete the pass, and Russell crossed the line first by a margin of less than two tenths. It was his eighth career win in the series and his third of the season.

Photo By Mercedes F1

Hadjar added the third place for Red Bull, followed by Leclerc and Antonelli. Hamilton finished sixth, ahead of Lindblad and Esteban Ocon, who crossed the line almost together. Oliver Bearman and Carlos Sainz completed the top ten; Sainz had started from 14th place due to a five-position grid penalty. Piastri finished no higher than 14th despite having fought for second for much of the race, and Sergio Pérez finished 15th. Along with Norris, Gasly, and Colapinto, Albon, Fernando Alonso, Stroll, and Valtteri Bottas also failed to finish.

The race shook up the numbers in the drivers' standings. Antonelli reached 302 points and Russell climbed to 236, cutting the gap between them from 81 to 66 points compared to what the Spanish Grand Prix at Madring had left. The Italian again showed he can limit the damage even on an adverse weekend, and Russell gained ground just as the championship enters a stretch of three consecutive races, continuing with the Bahrain Grand Prix. This edition is being held at the Sepang circuit in Malaysia, because the security situation in the Gulf region forced the venue to be relocated without changing the race's official name.

Photo By Red Bull Content Pool

Azerbaijan Grand Prix

Pos.	No.	driver	team	time
1	#63	George Russell	Mercedes	-
2	#3	Max Verstappen	Red Bull Racing	+0.196s
3	#6	Isack Hadjar	Red Bull Racing	+10.704s
4	#16	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	+14.136s
5	#12	Kimi Antonelli	Mercedes	+14.512s
6	#44	Lewis Hamilton	Ferrari	+22.382s
7	#41	Arvid Lindblad	Racing Bulls	+31.159s
8	#31	Esteban Ocon	Haas F1 Team	+31.189s
9	#87	Oliver Bearman	Haas F1 Team	+31.929s
10	#55	Carlos Sainz	Williams	+32.416s
11	#27	Nico Hulkenberg	Audi	+33.231s
12	#30	Liam Lawson	Racing Bulls	+34.013s
13	#5	Gabriel Bortoleto	Audi	+34.230s
14	#81	Oscar Piastri	McLaren	+36.401s
15	#11	Sergio Perez	Cadillac	+41.400s
DNF	#77	Valtteri Bottas	Cadillac	-
DNF	#43	Franco Colapinto	Alpine	-
DNF	#10	Pierre Gasly	Alpine	-
DNF	#1	Lando Norris	McLaren	-
DNF	#23	Alexander Albon	Williams	-
DNF	#14	Fernando Alonso	Aston Martin	-
DNF	#18	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin	-