BAKU, Azerbaijan (AP) — George Russell took a Formula 1 win in the blink of an eye. Now he says it's “crunch time” for the title fight.
In one of the closest finishes in years, Russell held off Max Verstappen by just .196 of a second to win the Azerbaijan Grand Prix on Saturday, ending a three-month wait for a victory.
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Russell cut Mercedes teammate Kimi Antonelli’s standings lead from 81 points to 66 as the Italian recovered from 16th on the grid to finish fifth.
“My teammate’s had an incredible season. He’s been pretty flawless throughout, but now we’re getting to crunch time,” Russell said. “If I continue delivering performances like I’ve done this weekend, no matter what happens towards the end of the season, I’ll be happy."
Russell started on pole, built a big lead and it seemed like he'd cruise to victory from there, given his vast margin over the field in qualifying the day before.
But then mayhem erupted behind him. Russell had to defend on two safety-car restarts before facing a dramatic late challenge from Verstappen, who charged through the field from eighth to second and nearly chased down Russell on the last straight.
“Every race since the (mid-season) break I have gone from strength to strength and I feel more like myself again,” Russell said.
A last-lap crash by Cadillac's Valtteri Bottas forced Russell and Verstappen to slow and the Dutch driver hunted down Russell right after that, closing fast as the finish line approached.
Verstappen ultimately was less than two-tenths of a second behind as he remains winless this year for the first time since his rookie 2015 season.
“I lost the boost, I had no power. Thought he was going to get us,” a relieved Russell said after securing his third win of the season.
Verstappen's Red Bull teammate Isack Hadjar was third on his return from a wrist fracture which had been causing him pain earlier in the week. “I am completely satisfied even if it is a bit numb,” he said.
On a miserable day for McLaren, defending champion Lando Norris was taken out in a crash started by Franco Colapinto before Oscar Piastri went off-track defending third place and ended up 14th.
Antonelli started 16th after a qualifying crash but ended up fifth as he limited the damage to his title lead, swerving to avoid a three-car crash ahead of him and later overtaking Lewis Hamilton.
The Italian had a lucky day as he benefited from a string of mistakes from drivers ahead, without being swept up in their incidents.
Antonelli swerved to avoid a three-car crash which took out Norris, caused by Alpine’s Colapinto plowing into his own teammate Pierre Gasly.
McLaren’s day got even worse when Piastri locked up his wheels while in third and defending from Hadjar. The Australian went off track and dropped all the way to 15th, helping out Antonelli in the process.
Ferrari lacked the pace to mount a serious challenge with Charles Leclerc fading to fourth from second on the grid, and Hamilton sixth.
Arvid Lindblad was seventh for Racing Bulls after he tipped his teammate Liam Lawson into a spin while reacting to the crash caused by Colapinto.
“I love getting taken out by my teammate, that’s pretty sick,” Lawson said.
Esteban Ocon was eighth for Haas, which appears set to drop him for 2027, with teammate Oliver Bearman ninth and Carlos Sainz, Jr. 10th for Williams.
F1 heads to Malaysia next week for a race still branded as the Bahrain Grand Prix. It's a replacement event after races in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia were called off earlier this year because of the Iran war.
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