Jaw resolute on the podium, George Russell made it clear he wasn’t quite ready to ease into that good night with a resounding victory at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix on Saturday. With a lot of ground to make up and few races left, the victory was something of a boost he needed to at least stay within reach of the Formula 1 title.
Russell’s pole-to-flag victory in Baku allowed him to take advantage of a meeting where his Mercedes teammate and title leader Kimi Antonelli endured his worst weekend of the season.
The fact that Antonelli made a strong comeback to claim fifth place from 16th was impressive, but it also indicates that the 20-year-old Italian had approached his task with one eye on the crown. Still, Russell can’t be blamed for doing everything right, ensuring he clawed back 15 points and reduced the deficit to 66 points with eight races remaining.
It was the culmination of a meeting where Russell had been on top throughout and virtually untouchable. From pole on Friday and then leading the field, he delivered a near-flawless drive, including handling two tense safety car restarts and resisting being chased to the line by a very fast Max Verstappen, his lead at the flag just a tenth of a second.
Pressured by the Dutchman who was climbing all over his gearbox in the tense final 10 laps after the second safety car, Russell held on, providing a salutary reminder that his sketchy form this year belies his talent.
He didn’t concede the lead from start to finish, but more than deserved the victory by beating Verstappen, who also put in a good drive to take second place from eighth on the grid. His Red Bull teammate Isack Hadjar finished third in his first race after being out for six weeks due to injury.
. It was Russell’s first win at the Azerbaijan GP, his third of the year, and it was exactly what he needed. This appears to vindicate his intention to return from the summer break and, as he pointed out, drive “instinctively” after difficulties with the car in the first half of the season. Certainly the trust he showed in Baku bore fruit, his sense of calm vindication and pleasure once again proving palpable afterwards.
He has been unlucky this season, but he has also struggled to adapt, like Antonelli, to the new regulations and new cars, but when he is on it he is relentless and almost untouchable. A repeat of this form and he may still believe that the gap to his teammate doesn’t really seem such a gulf.
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“After the summer break I feel like I’ve gotten better and better and I feel more like myself and that’s a good thing,” he said. “Winning every race is the game plan. My teammate has had an incredible season and now we have to make up time. I have to focus on myself.”
The result should also be seen as a good return for Antonelli. After making a mistake in qualifying, going over the barrier early in the session, coming back to fifth was an impressive feat of damage limitation. It once again demonstrates his impressive racing talent: it’s the second time he’s been tasked with returning to a dominant car, having driven from 19th place to victory at Monza. With a longer lap and a more spread out peloton than in Italy, fifth place here could be as high as he could have hoped.
It was also the thoughtful and calculated will of an activist who only had one eye on the championship. He avoided trouble admirably, including showing bright reactions in diving to avoid the pileup on the first safety car restart after Alpine’s Franco Colapinto lunged at his teammate, Pierre Gasly, and in turn collected McLaren’s Lando Norris. It left the world champion furious and his lingering hopes of defending his title in tatters.
Antonelli had been somewhat out of shape after losing track time with a mechanical problem in practice and making his mistake in qualifying, so he notably tempered his usual hard-charging approach.
“George had an incredible weekend, he had a lot of confidence. (But) this weekend was by far my worst of the year in terms of performance,” he said. “I wasn’t there, really present, especially with what happened so early. I didn’t take the same risks, especially after qualifying. Today was more of a save-the-damage mode than a full-on attack.”
He hopes to come back stronger next weekend at the Bahrain GP in Malaysia, while Russell knows he has to adopt a new engine for which there will be a grid penalty. For now, on the streets of Baku, he reasserted himself with as complete a display of his skills as possible and reminded his teammate that he remains committed to taking this title fight as deep as possible.
Gn sports
