George Russell fires rally cry after 'resilient' Mercedes fightback

George Russell believes he is now capable of fighting for grand prix wins "week in, week out" following a dominant performance at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.

For the first time in his career, Russell posted a grand chelem after winning the Baku race from pole, having led all 51 laps, and set the fastest lap, defeating Max Verstappen by just 0.196s on the line. 

The win, coupled with Kimi Antonelli's fifth-place has allowed Russell to cut his points deficit to 66 points after his third victory of the campaign. 

Russell has been brutally honest at times in 2026 about his struggles in gelling his driving style to the W17 machine, but since the summer break, has scored three podiums, including the win, and also bagged the Sprint victory in the Netherlands.

Reflecting after the win, the closest in F1 since the 2002 United States GP between Rubens Barrichello and Michael Schumacher, Russell felt that driving the car was "finally coming to me more intuitively."

"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 and to adapt my driving style to suit this new car better," Russell told media, including RacingNews365. 

"F1 is so tough, you don’t get opportunities to practice this, and finally it’s coming to me a bit more intuitively than it once did, and I’m gaining confidence, 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.

"I never lost that faith in myself; even through tough moments, I knew there was a reason why I was off the pace. 

"It wasn’t like I just suddenly forgot how to drive, and I knew I would be able to find it again. I just had to be patient. So, I feel confident. You know, it’s been four races since the 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."

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Russell vs Verstappen

After the second safety car restart, Verstappen tried to hunt Russell down, and was just 0.196s behind at the line, in the 10th closest green-flag finish in the history of F1.

Making a restart from the lead was a new situation for Russell - as he detailed his thought process.

"It's the first restart I’ve done this season from the lead. These power units are very challenging at restarts, getting the battery in the right place for turbo spinning at the right speed, and I always do good preparation on what I want to do at a restart," he said.

"It needs a lot more thought into it than ever before. But I was keeping an eye on my mirrors where Max was, and I had waited for that moment when the gap was just slightly larger and managed to break him because I knew if he saw half a chance, he would have been sending it down the inside. 

"So, I was pleased with it."