George Russell fends off Max Verstappen to win action-packed Qatar Airways Azərbaycan Qran Prisi

George Russell has broken through for his third win of the season, leading every lap of the Qatar Airways Azərbaycan Qran Prisi to hold off Max Verstappen by just 0.196s in a race filled with crashes and Safety Cars.

The Mercedes driver controlled the early stages before the first Safety Car erased his advantage, while a second brought Verstappen right onto his rear wing, although Russell held off the four-time world champion by the narrowest of margins to claim his first victory since Austria.

It was a strong drive from Verstappen, who started down in eighth and made the most of an excellent getaway to work his way through the field and claim the runner-up spot.

The Dutchman closed rapidly on Russell on the final lap following a brief yellow flag period and had one final look for the lead, but ultimately couldn’t make a move stick as he crossed the line just 0.196s behind the Mercedes.

Isack Hadjar also produced a strong drive on his return from a wrist injury to claim his third career podium, heading home Charles Leclerc and Kimi Antonelli, who finished fifth after starting the race 16th.

Oscar Piastri looked set for his third podium of the season after running second for much of the race, only to fall behind Verstappen at the first Safety Car restart before dropping out of the points entirely at the second after going off track while defending from Hadjar.

It added to a scoreless afternoon for McLaren, with Lando Norris one of six retirements from the race, three of which came following a collision at Turn 1 on the second Safety Car restart.

Norris was an innocent victim after Alpine teammates Franco Colapinto and Pierre Gasly collided, taking the reigning world champion out in the process.

The retirements benefited the Haas pair, with Esteban Ocon and Oliver Bearman both finishing in the points to give the American team its first score since Monaco.

Ocon looked set for seventh before Arvid Lindblad snatched the position at the finish line, leaving the pair seventh and eighth respectively behind sixth-placed Lewis Hamilton.

Bearman came home ninth, one place ahead of Carlos Sainz, who also gave Williams its first points since Monaco.

Russell’s victory and Antonelli’s fifth place cut the championship gap by 15 points, with the Italian now leading his teammate by 66 points.

The Briton said a late issue with his turbo had made fending off Verstappen even more difficult, adding he was happy to take the win nonetheless.

“I do want to say a big thanks to my team because they’ve continued to believe in me through a tough moment. Helped me come through it. I’m really proud to have had this weekend.

“The first half of the race felt pretty plain sailing. Getting the gap. Safety Car restart, especially when I saw Max behind, I thought it’s not going to be easy. He drove incredibly at the end of the race.

“And then when the yellow flag came out [on the last lap], I lifted off the power, and when I went back, I had no turbo. So then I had no power.

“Max almost got me at the line. So that would have been a real shame. But all in all, incredible weekend.”

Verstappen said he had enjoyed the race, admitting he gave it everything to try and get past Russell on the line.

“The first stint was probably a little bit difficult with the medium tyres, but we still worked our way into P3.

“And then we had a good restart into P2, and then it was just like one second, 1.1, and then on the final lap with the yellow flag, I think George lost a bit of boost out of one corner. So that’s why I caught up quite a bit.

Hadjar, meanwhile, also said he was happy with the podium, particularly after missing the last three races, as he helped give Red Bull its first double podium since the 2024 Chinese Grand Prix.

“It’s been like six weeks since I injured myself, and now I think it was the right time to come back.

“I felt strong. And this weekend I really took it step by step. It’s a track you can end up in the wall really quickly. I didn’t need that to gain the confidence. So it was a very slow build-up, but it brought me here.

“So I’m very, very happy for an actual first proper podium on pure pace. So I’m very delighted.”

All 22 cars made the grid under sunny skies in Baku, with the top 10 evenly split between the medium and soft compound tyres.

Russell, Norris and Verstappen were among those starting on the mediums, while Leclerc, Piastri and Hadjar opted for the softs.

Russell made the perfect getaway from pole and led off the line, while Piastri also launched strongly, immediately getting ahead of Leclerc to take second before Turn 1.

Verstappen also made an excellent start from eighth, climbing to sixth by the end of the opening lap, while Norris and Liam Lawson gained places to move into fourth and 10th respectively.

Verstappen made further progress on Lap 2, passing Hamilton for sixth as he set his sights on teammate Hadjar in fifth.

The Frenchman found his way back past Norris for fourth a lap later, with Verstappen following his teammate through to drop the McLaren driver to sixth as the Red Bull pair closed on Leclerc in third.

Hadjar passed the Ferrari on Lap 4, immediately leaving Leclerc vulnerable to Verstappen, while Piastri was warned over the radio about Red Bull’s pace as he attempted to close the 2.2-second gap to Russell out front.

The Red Bull charge continued on Lap 5 as Verstappen swept past Leclerc for fourth down the main straight, putting Piastri next in his sights.

Further down the field, Antonelli moved from 16th to 15th after passing Sainz before gaining another place on Lap 6 by overtaking Lindblad for 14th.

Verstappen made his way past his teammate for third on Lap 7 as Piastri began reporting issues with his rear tyres.

The Dutchman continued to pressure the McLaren, with Piastri able to maintain the gap through the early sectors before the Red Bull closed rapidly down the main straight thanks to its superior straight-line speed.

Lance Stroll became the first retirement of the race on Lap 9 after Aston Martin instructed him to pull over at Turn 15 with an issue, marking the Canadian’s 11th technical retirement of the season.

Antonelli continued to make progress, climbing to 11th by Lap 14 after passing a battling Lawson and Alex Albon. Lawson had already dropped out of the top 10 behind Bearman before Antonelli also found his way past the Kiwi.

By Lap 15, Russell’s lead over Piastri had grown to 6.9s, while the Australian continued to hold off the Red Bull duo with a 1.3s advantage over Verstappen.

On Lap 17, Hamilton moved into sixth down the main straight after Norris had locked up at Turn 6 on the previous lap, while Antonelli made a similar move on Bearman to climb into the points in 10th.

Hadjar began closing on Verstappen by Lap 20, with the Frenchman urging Red Bull to let him through for a chance to attack Piastri, while two laps later Fernando Alonso joined his teammate in retirement to compound a wretched afternoon for Aston Martin.

Antonelli continued to make progress on Lap 23, moving up to ninth with an overtake on Colapinto, while his teammate continued to push out front and extend his advantage to 9.4s.

By Lap 25, Piastri’s advantage over Verstappen remained at 1.3s, with Hadjar still tucked in behind his teammate. Piastri’s pace remained strong, with the soft proving the superior compound as McLaren urged the Australian to keep pushing while extending his opening stint beyond its original target.

Hadjar, also on the soft compound, continued to vent his frustration at not being let through, with the Frenchman looking down the inside of his teammate into Turn 1 on Lap 27 before Verstappen defended and questioned the move over the radio.

On Lap 30, Norris had another moment, locking up into Turn 1 and running straight into the run-off area, dropping to ninth as Gasly and Antonelli both swept past.

A lap later, Albon crashed heavily at Turn 6, bringing out the Safety Car, although the Williams driver emerged unscathed.

Replays showed the Thai driver had locked up on the approach and was unable to make the escape road, burying his Williams in the barriers and becoming the third retirement of the race.

A flurry of pit stops followed under the Safety Car, with Antonelli and Norris immediately diving in before Russell, Piastri, both Red Bulls and both Ferraris stopped a lap later.

Despite the stops, the order at the front remained unchanged, with a frustrated Hadjar continuing to vent over the radio about remaining behind his teammate.

Russell and Verstappen emerged as the only drivers inside the top six on soft tyres, handing them a compound advantage ahead of the restart, while Gasly, Antonelli, Norris and Colapinto were also on softs further down the top 10.

Racing resumed on Lap 35, with Verstappen immediately passing Piastri for second into Turn 1 as carnage unfolded behind them.

Colapinto locked up into the same corner and collided with Gasly, who was caught between his Alpine teammate and Norris. Gasly and Norris retired on the spot, while Colapinto limped back to the pits before also retiring.

There was further contact behind between the Racing Bulls pair of Lindblad and Lawson, with Lindblad clipping the rear of his teammate and sending him into a spin, prompting a frustrated and sarcastic response from Lawson as he dropped to the back of the field.

The incidents brought out the Safety Car once again as marshals began clearing the debris and repairing the barrier at Turn 1.

It was only a brief Safety Car period as racing resumed on Lap 39, with Hadjar immediately putting Piastri under pressure for third, although the Australian was able to defend from the Red Bull into Turn 1.

However, things went downhill rapidly for Piastri a lap later as the Melburnian locked up heavily into the same corner while defending from Hadjar, running into the run-off area and dropping to second-last before rejoining the track.

Up front, Verstappen began to put Russell under pressure for the lead, with the Dutchman keeping the gap at around a second across the next five laps.

Further back in sixth, Antonelli closed in on Hamilton’s Ferrari as he continued his progress through the field, sweeping past down the straight on Lap 43 to take fifth.

Verstappen continued to pile the pressure on Russell in the closing laps, having several brief looks for a move before closing rapidly on the Mercedes on the final lap following a brief yellow flag period caused by a late crash for Valtteri Bottas.

Russell ultimately held off Verstappen by just 0.1s at the line to claim his eighth career win, while Lindblad snatched seventh from Ocon in a drag to the finish.

F1 returns to its traditional Friday-to-Sunday schedule next weekend for the Gulf Air Grand Prix at Petronas Sepang International Circuit in Malaysia.

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Gee, thanks. Now I don't have to bother watching a race I have been looking forward to. Have any football scores you'd like to announce - College or NFL?

FYI: Proper etiquette would be to NOT post results in the header.

Etiquette?

On Free Republic????

Surely you jest.

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Pos.	No.	Driver	Team	Laps	Time / Retired	Pts.
1	63	George Russell	Mercedes	51	38:02.143	25
2	3	Max Verstappen	Red Bull Racing	51	+0.196s	18
3	6	Isack Hadjar	Red Bull Racing	51	+10.704s	15
4	16	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	51	+14.136s	12
5	12	Kimi Antonelli	Mercedes	51	+14.512s	10
6	44	Lewis Hamilton	Ferrari	51	+22.382s	8
7	41	Arvid Lindblad	Racing Bulls	51	+31.159s	6
8	31	Esteban Ocon	Haas F1 Team	51	+31.189s	4
9	87	Oliver Bearman	Haas F1 Team	51	+31.929s	2
10	55	Carlos Sainz	Williams	51	+32.416s	1
11	27	Nico Hulkenberg	Audi	51	+33.231s	0
12	30	Liam Lawson	Racing Bulls	51	+34.013s	0
13	5	Gabriel Bortoleto	Audi	51	+34.230s	0
14	81	Oscar Piastri	McLaren	51	+36.401s	0
15	11	Sergio Perez	Cadillac	51	+41.400s	0
16	77	Valtteri Bottas	Cadillac	49	Contact	0
17	43	Franco Colapinto	Alpine	36	Contact	0
18	10	Pierre Gasly	Alpine	35	Contact	0
19	1	Lando Norris	McLaren	35	Contact	0
20	23	Alexander Albon	Williams	29	Contact	0
21	14	Fernando Alonso	Aston Martin	20	Engine	0
22	18	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin	7	Engine	0