George Russell held off a late challenge from Max Verstappen to win the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. The Briton won by 0.196 seconds, the smallest margin in a race with green flags since the 2002 United States Grand Prix.
Russell dominated the first part of the race, pulling away from McLaren's Oscar Piastri, who had overtaken Charles Leclerc of Ferrari at the start to move from third to second. Piastri was unable to match Russell's pace, and was soon forced to defend against Isack Hadjar. Hadjar had engaged in an early battle with McLaren's Lando Norris, before overtaking Leclerk and threatening McLaren.
Verstappen was advancing from eighth on the starting grid, after qualifying where a series of problems prevented him from qualifying second behind Russell. By the seventh lap, he had passed Hadjar to take third place, after the Frenchman did not fight back. Three cars were then locked in a pattern, with no possibility of overtaking.
In the 30th lap, Alex Albon hit a barrier at the fifth turn, which caused a safety car to be deployed. On the restart, six laps later, Verstappen passed Piastri at the first corner to take second place. The race was immediately put under a yellow flag due to a crash in the first corner caused by Franco Colapinto. The Argentine had collided with his team-mate, Pierre Gasly, who had then hit Norris. Two Racing Bulls also collided, with Arvid Lindblad spinning Liam Lawson, who responded sarcastically on the radio. Norris told BBC Radio 5 Live that the Argentine should be banned from the race.
Verstappen was 0.5 seconds behind Russell at all times, but never close enough to attack in the first corner, the only significant overtaking spot. In the final lap, Valt Bottas hit his Cadillac in the 15th corner. After slowing down due to yellow flags, Russell lost turbo, which deprived him of electric boost. The British driver was afraid that Verstappen would overtake him on the finishing straight, but held on.
Russell's victory was the first since the Austrian Grand Prix in June. It reduced the gap to his team-mate Kimi Antonelli in the standings to 66 points. Antonelli, starting from 16th, advanced to fifth, with only 0.3 seconds separating him from Leclerc for fourth place. Hamilton, Leclerc's team-mate, finished sixth after a quiet race. Lindblad, who had hit Lawson, made up for it with a strong final 10 laps, rising to seventh place. Piastri lost second place to Verstappen on the first restart, but on the second restart, he made the same mistake as Norris before him – blocking the wheels in the first corner and going into the exit zone, which dropped him to 14th. Russell is now on the podium in three of the four races since the summer break.
