George Russell wins the Azerbaijan Grand Prix in an eventful race

George Russell finally had to suffer more than expected to take victory in Baku. The Briton seemed destined to prove intractable in the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, but a couple of repeated starts after yellow flags ended up allowing Max Verstappen to get dangerously close. So much so that the Dutchman finally had to settle for being second by a single tenth, while his Red Bull teammate, Isack Hadjar, climbed to the third step of the podium.

The victory also allows Russell to cut 15 points in the table from Kimi Antonelli who, despite starting sixteenth, managed to minimize the damage and climb to fifth place in a race in which he had to get into championship mode. As for the two Spanish drivers on the track, Carlos Sainz added a point with his tenth position while Fernando Alonso, for his part, was forced to abandon for the sixth time this season after new reliability problems with an Aston Martin that also left Lance Stroll out of action again.

«It's fantastic to be back on the top of the podium. I want to thank my team for the fact that they continue to believe in me and help me get through the hardest moments. The first part was easy, but the second, with Max behind me, I saw that everything was getting more complicated. Furthermore, he almost beat me at the finish line, and it would have been a shame, but the race has been incredible," Russell analyzed after a test marked by an accident by Alex Albon on lap 31, with its subsequent yellow flag, and a touch by Franco Colapinto with his teammate Pierre Gasly and Lando Norris at the start that forced a new restart and left the three drivers out of action. "The first stint with the medium was complicated, we came out well in the second restart, and, in the end, with that new yellow flag, I saw that Russell ran out of turbo and I was able to get closer, but it was not enough," explained Verstappen.

«It has been a very long six weeks, I had not enjoyed it all that time and it was the best time to do it again. On this circuit you can end up against the wall very quickly, but I have been gaining confidence and I think it is a well-deserved podium. The truth is that my wrist is a little numb right now, but I'm happy and looking forward to racing more," said a tremendously smiling Hadjar in his speech before the television cameras at the end of a test that turned out to be more exciting than it initially promised. Above all, given the possibility that Russell would take advantage of Antonelli's unforced error in training that dropped him to sixteenth place on the grid. «The plan is to win every race. My partner has had an incredible season, we are reaching the crucial moment and I have to focus on myself. "If things continue going like this until the end of the course, whatever happens, I will be happy," said the Briton.