George Russell denies Max Verstappen in Baku as Franco Colapinto sparks Alpine disaster

George Russell kept Max Verstappen at bay over the closing stages of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix to claim a crucial victory and eat into the championship lead of Mercedes team-mate Kimi Antonelli

For the opening 30 laps at the Baku City Circuit, polesitter Russell was cruising off into the sunset before Alex Albon crashed his Williams, sparking a safety car.

At the restart, Franco Colapinto hit Alpine team-mate Pierre Gasly into Turn 1, in turn wiping out McLaren's Lando Norris, leading to a second safety car period in which Russell was hounded by Red Bull's four-time F1 champion Verstappen for the final 13 laps.

The win is the eighth of Russell's career, his third this season, and his first from start to finish, allowing him to close the gap to Antonelli to 66 points as the young Italian climbed from 16th to fifth by the chequered flag.

For Red Bull, it is now 15 grands prix without a victory, their worst run since Verstappen joined the team in 2016. The positive is that Isack Hadjar joined the Dutchman on the podium for his second top-three finish this year, and the team's first double podium since the 2024 Chinese Grand Prix.

Verstappen and Hadjar hound Piastri

From a clean getaway off the line, Russell slowly eked out a lead over Piastri after the Australian passed Ferrari's Charles Leclerc on the short run down to Turn 1, as those on the dirty side of the grid clearly struggled for initial grip.

It was Verstappen, with the fresh PU, who enjoyed early pace as he made up five places from eighth by the start of lap six as he scythed his way past Alpine's Pierre Gasly, Lewis Hamilton in his Ferrari, the McLaren of Lando Norris, Leclerc, and Hadjar.

Although he was close to Piastri on several occasions down the long start-finish straight over the next few laps, Verstappen never got close enough to make a move into the opening corner.

From his lowly 16th position behind the leaders, Antonelli initially lost a place on the opening lap before then slowly picking off the midfield pack as the race unfolded.

At one-third distance of 17 laps, the 20-year-old had finally eked his way into the points in 10th. At that stage, Russell's lead over Piastri was close to eight seconds.

Verstappen then started to struggle on his mediums, whilst Hadjar clearly had spare pace directly behind him on softs, only to play the team game and keep himself behind.

Over the radio, Hadjar notified his team on two occasions that his tyres were good, arguably suggesting that Verstappen allow him by, and an opportunity to at least apply pressure on Piastri.

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Albon sparks safety car

After 26 of the 51 laps, Russell was clear of Piastri by almost 10 seconds, although shortly before he had urged his team to look at the tyre pressures after airing concern over the radio as he "nibbled" a wall.

Up ahead, Hadjar asked whether he could attempt to overtake Verstappen, and was told to "keep it clean" if he tried.

On lap 30, and running sixth, McLaren's Lando Norris locked up into Turn 1, allowing Gasly and Antonelli, especially, to move up, the latter into eighth place.

Seconds later, Albon buried his car into a barrier between Turns 5 and 6, sparking an immediate safety car.

Perhaps surprisingly, no red flag was thrown, and instead the FIA opted to retrieve the car with a recovery vehicle and repair the Tecpro barrier behind the safety car, during which all 20 drivers - following earlier retirements for Aston Martin duo Lance Stroll and Fernando Alonso - pitted for fresh rubber.  

It left the race order as Russell, Piastri, Verstappen, Hadjar, Leclerc, Hamilton, Gasly, Antonelli, Norris and Franco Colapinto with 16 laps remaining as the safety car peeled away.

Of the top 10, Russell, Verstappen, Gasly, Antonelli, Norris and Colapinto were on the more favourable soft tyre, with Piastri, Hadjar, Leclerc and Hamilton on mediums.

At the restart, Verstappen jumped Piastri into Turn 1, where Colapinto locked up after trying to go up the inside of Gasly, only to hit the Frenchman who, in turn, collected Norris. Moments later, in trying to avoid the mayhem, Racing Bulls Arvid Lindblad also took out his team-mate, Liam Lawson.

Naturally, it sparked a second safety car period for a further three laps, leaving 13 remaining.

Piastri disaster

Russell managed to keep Verstappen at bay to retain his lead before disaster struck Piastri on lap 40 due to a major lock-up into Turn 1, relegating him from third to 15th.

On lap 42, Antonelli further limited the damage to Russell by moving up to fifth with a move on Hamilton, and that was as far as he could go, with the Italian sandwiching the Ferraris at the end of the 51 laps.

Behind the top six, outgoing Haas driver Esteban Ocon was sixth, followed by Lindblad, Ollie Bearman in his Haas, and Williams' Carlos Sainz, ending the team's eight-race pointless drought.

On the final lap, Cadillac's Valtteri Bottas joined the list of retirees by crashing into a barrier.