F1 Azerbaijan GP Results: Baku Chaos Delivers Thrilling Finish and More Misery for Lewis Hamilton… Read More

George Russell took an excellent lights-to-flag victory at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix on Saturday afternoon in Baku, but he was pushed right to the limit by Max Verstappen.

The Mercedes star took the victory by just 0.196 seconds – the narrowest winning margin in over 20 years – after a fantastic battle over the last 15 laps, with the Brit fighting tooth and nail to take his first victory since the Austrian Grand Prix back in June.

Isack Hadjar returned from injury with an incredibly solid drive to secure Red Bull’s first double podium finish since the 2024 Chinese Grand Prix, a 57-race drought.

Verstappen Makes Blistering Start

Verstappen scythed his way through the field in the opening laps from eighth on the grid, swallowing up Lando Norris and the Ferraris with impressive pace and the use of overtake mode down the long front straight, only to get stuck behind Oscar Piastri for some 20 laps before Alex Albon crashed to bring out a safety car.

That safety car erased the 10-second lead that Russell had pulled out over the chasing trio of Piastri, Verstappen and Hadjar, with he and Verstappen switching onto the optimal soft tyres while Piastri and the other Red Bull had to swap to mediums.

Verstappen restarted brilliantly when that safety car period ended, launching past Piastri and up into second place behind Russell, before a laser-guided Franco Colapinto kicked off a four-car shunt behind him into the first corner to bring out a second safety car almost immediately.

Russell vs Verstappen for the Win

The second restart was much cleaner, allowing Russell and Verstappen to vanish up the road while Piastri and Hadjar squabbled over third place.

That was a short-lived squabble, as it turned out, as the Australian went off into the run-off area at the first corner a couple of laps later, dropping out of the points entirely.

Behind that battle, Kimi Antonelli slowly picked his way through the field from 16th on the grid after his crash in qualifying, taking full advantage of the safety car closing the field up to claim ten points for fifth place and somewhat salvage his weekend.

The Grim Reality for Lewis Hamilton

If there was any doubt that Lewis Hamilton is absolutely no threat to Antonelli’s championship aspirations, that was dispelled when the Brit was overtaken and comfortably beaten by his Mercedes replacement, who had started ten places ahead of him.

Haas broke a pointless streak going back eight races thanks to a double points finish from Esteban Ocon and Ollie Bearman (eighth and ninth), while Carlos Sainz took his revamped Williams to his first points finish since May.

2026 F1 Azerbaijan Grand Prix Results

Who Is the Current F1 World Champion?

Lando Norris is the reigning F1 champion, and won his first drivers’ championship last year.