Russell holds off Verstappen to win the Azerbaijan Grand Prix

Written by: Henry Quach 🇻🇳

Photo by Alastair Staley/LAT Images

After a historic race in Monza, Italy, Formula One returned for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, this time with a different schedule, due to a national holiday on the original race day. This track has always been tricky, and it certainly showed throughout the 51-lap race. 

Things did not get hectic until the last 20 laps, leading to a last-lap battle between Red Bull’s Max Verstappen and Mercedes’s George Russell. Verstappen was right on Russell’s tail, but Russell snuck it out by a tenth of a second to pull off his third Grand Prix victory of the season. 

While returning Red Bull driver Isack Hadjar finished an impressive drive with his second podium finish of the season, coming in third place. 

After a qualifying session that Russell dominated, giving him pole position, championship leader Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli had a rough second session and crashed, causing him to start P16.  

Before a Formula One race, drivers complete a warm-up lap to get their cars ready for the race and weather checks.

Once that is completed, the race is set, and the five lights are cleared. It was a good start for Russell and McLaren’s Oscar Piastri, who started in P3 and jumped into P2 into Turn 1 in Lap 1, as it was a clean start for everyone else.

Throughout the race, there were several overtakes, such as Verstappen passing his old rival, Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton, on Lap 2 for sixth place. Verstappen’s teammate, Hadjar, overtook McLaren’s Lando Norris on the next lap for fourth place. Hadjar then overtook Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc on the following lap for third place, and Verstappen followed on the fifth lap for fourth place.

On Lap 7, Hadjar was given team orders to let Verstappen pass because Verstappen was going faster than Hadjar for third place and with the pace he had, there was a potential chance to get second and maybe the victory.

When it came to Lap 17, Hamilton overtook Norris for sixth place. Things went from bad to worse for Norris as his tires locked up in Turn 1 on Lap 30 after he tried to break with tires that did not have the grip necessary for the track. 

Just the following lap, Williams Racing driver Alex Albon crashed into the barriers, triggering  the first Safety Car of the race. However, that was just the beginning of the chaos, as it wasted four laps. 

On Lap 36, as Verstappen overtook Piastri for second place, a pink and blue Alpine attempted to overtake the field but failed, taking out the other Alpine and Norris’ car in orange. The white Racing Bulls car was also involved in a collision with its secondary car. 

After the chaos the race was back on at Lap 38. 

On Lap 40, Hadjar took advantage of a mistake by Piastri, whose chances of finishing in the top two ended as he rejoined the race in fifteenth place. 

On the final lap, Cadillac’s driver Valtteri Bottas crashed into the barriers, triggering a yellow flag, in which originally, drivers needed to slow down to allow the marshals to figure out who had gone off track but the rules didn’t apply on the final lap. Russell was almost caught off guard by a charging Verstappen right behind him. 

However, Russell held on by a tenth of a second to claim his third victory of the season, and the rest of the drivers were just stuck in a drag race till the end. Both Red Bull drivers, Verstappen and Hadjar finished second and third place. 

As the season progresses, the championship battle continues as Formula One returns to Malaysia for the first time since 2017, replacing the Bahrain Grand Prix due to ongoing conflicts in the country.