Russell wins Azerbaijan GP in Baku, says he has 'come through the other side' after tough period

George Russell held off Max Verstappen to win the Azerbaijan Grand Prix in Baku on the Saturday after the race was brought forward 24 hours, claiming his third victory of the 2026 season in what the report described as one of the closest finishes in history.

For Russell this result felt like vindication; he said he had "come through the other side" and was back to his best after what he acknowledged was a "real tough period" during the season. It was his first win since the end of June, seven races earlier, a stretch in which team-mate Kimi Antonelli scored three wins to take his season total to eight and opened an 81-point lead over Russell prior to Baku.

Russell has struggled at times this year despite dominating the intra-team battle last season; the article noted Antonelli "felt immediately at home in the new Mercedes after the biggest rule changes in F1 history, and the Briton very much did not." The Italian Grand Prix at Monza, two races earlier, was singled out as particularly painful for Russell: he started from the front row while Antonelli began 19th after a grid penalty and Antonelli went on to win.

In Baku Russell was fastest from the outset while Antonelli lost half the two hours of practice on the first day, made a mistake in qualifying that took a wheel off on an inside wall and started 16th. Antonelli finished fifth, his first result off the podium since the British Grand Prix, and admitted it had been his "worst weekend of the year in terms of performance," adding: "I felt always a step behind, and especially with the mistake in qualifying the confidence level was not high and today was about damage limitation. "Just probably also the mindset was not in the best place. I wasn't there. I wasn't really present, especially with what happened so early on and just didn't take the same risks, especially after qualifying. "Today was more damage-safe mode instead of full attack. I just make sure next weekend we get back in the right level."

Russell's victory cut the championship gap to 66 points from the 81-point margin before Baku, with the article noting there were "either seven or eight races still to go, and 25 points for a win." The win in Baku was described as Russell's third of the season while Antonelli's tally stands at eight victories.

Mercedes deputy team principal Bradley Lord reflected on Russell's recent turnaround: "He had some difficult moments before the summer break, some soul-searching as well at points, and he's come back really strong, focused on the driving, focusing on the essentials of what he needs to do to put his weekends together step by step." Russell said: "I'm very proud of the resilience that I and my close group of engineers have shown during the tough periods this year because there's been a lot of hard work to overcome some of the challenges, to adapt my driving style to suit this new car better. "And F1 is so tough, you don't get opportunities to practise this, and finally it's coming to me a bit more intuitively than it once did, and I'm gaining confidence. And especially on circuits like this, it just allows you to eke out that little bit more on the brakes, get that little bit closer to the walls, and it's been a flawless weekend. "It's been four races since the (summer) break. I've been on the front row in three of them, three podiums from the four races. I feel I can fight for victory week in, week out now."

Race dynamics saw Russell build a comfortable lead in the first stint while Oscar Piastri delayed Verstappen, but two mid-race safety cars closed the field and left Verstappen on Russell's tail. Russell remained "flawless" despite being unable to shake Verstappen and, late on, slowing for a yellow flag on the final lap caused a loss of turbo boost pressure that left him vulnerable on the run to the flag. Russell called it "for sure the most dominant weekend I've had in my career." He also spoke about the team's development: "I'm really excited," and "That's going to be a good step forward." He added: "Our car has been working exceptionally well on the low-drag circuits. We've got a really efficient car, so here at Baku we've been exceptionally fast. But I think from next week onwards, we're hoping to make a bigger step to the rest of the field. But nothing's sure until we see how it pans out in reality."

Russell said there was "much less pressure on me than there is on him," referring to Antonelli, and reflected on his own mindset: "I didn't really consider myself in this fight for a number of races, purely because my performance wasn't strong enough. "Now I feel like if the season were to have started today, or since the summer break, you know, I feel very much I would have been able to fight. "Now I've got this big deficit. It can change quick. So I'm not chasing that. I'm chasing to win every race, and what will be, will be." Antonelli and Mercedes now head to Malaysia, where the article said Antonelli has "a few days" to process the weekend and Mercedes expect their first big upgrade at the Bahrain/Malaysia race weekend.