Sport e Salute

Russell Holds Off Verstappen in a Chaotic Baku Grand Prix

28 Settembre 2026

A cura di Redazione

A third win of the season for Russell, and a fifth-place recovery for championship leader Kimi Antonelli after he crashed in qualifying

Russell Holds Off Verstappen in a Chaotic Baku Grand Prix A third win of the season for Russell, and a fifth-place recovery for championship leader Kimi Antonelli after he crashed in qualifying George Russell’s Mercedes won the Azerbaijan Grand Prix in Baku on Saturday, fending off a late charge from Max Verstappen’s Red Bull to take the chequered flag by two tenths of a second.

Russell led every lap from pole, but the race around him came apart twice. Two safety car periods neutralised the field, both times putting Verstappen back within reach of the lead. He closed rapidly on Russell in the final laps, only to run out of road before he could make a final move.

It was Russell’s third win of the season. He crossed the line in 1:38:02.143, with Verstappen 0.196 seconds behind. Isack Hadjar, back in the Red Bull after missing a round through injury, closed to within 10.704 seconds of the lead, giving the team a double result. Charles Leclerc finished fourth for Ferrari, 14.136 seconds off the win. Antonelli’s Mercedes was fifth, 14.512 seconds back, Hamilton sixth in the second Ferrari.

Albon, Colapinto, and the Restarts

Alex Albon put his Williams into the wall to trigger the first safety car. The second came when Franco Colapinto’s Alpine locked up, collecting teammate Pierre Gasly and Lando Norris’s McLaren on the spot. Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll both retired their Aston Martins with separate mechanical failures, and Valtteri Bottas crashed his Cadillac into the barriers on the final lap.

Antonelli’s Mercedes crashed in qualifying and started sixteenth, his worst grid position of the year. He climbed back through the field as the two interruptions bunched the pack together again, crossing the line fifth without ever getting into contention for a top three finish. Afterward he said he wasn’t happy with his driving, pointed to problems in practice and a mistake in qualifying, and said he would try to put things right in Bahrain.

Fourth and Sixth for Ferrari

Leclerc’s fourth place was the best Ferrari could manage all weekend. Hamilton, in the second Ferrari, spent the race isolated in sixth, with no one ahead to fight and no one behind to defend against.

Where the Championship Stands

Antonelli still leads the drivers’ championship with 302 points after fifteen rounds. Russell’s win narrows the gap at the top to 66 points, moving him up to 236. Hamilton sits third on 199, just ahead of Lando Norris on 186, with Leclerc fifth on 179 and Verstappen sixth on 163.

Russell Holds Off Verstappen in a Chaotic Baku Grand Prix A third win of the season for Russell, and a fifth-place recovery for championship leader Kimi Antonelli after he crashed in qualifying In the constructors’ championship, Mercedes lead with 538 points, Ferrari are second on 378, McLaren third on 306, and Red Bull fourth on 263.

Next Up: Malaysia

The championship moves next to a circuit that has not hosted a Grand Prix since 2017. The rescheduled Bahrain Grand Prix will be held at the Sepang International Circuit in Malaysia from October 2 to 4, standing in for the race cancelled in the spring, before the calendar reaches Singapore later in the month.