George Russell achieved a victory that seemed controlled until the incidents of the last laps changed the race. Verstappen finished second and Hadjar completed the podium, while Antonelli came back to fifth place from sixteenth position.
George Russell completed a perfect weekend in Baku. After dominating the three practice sessions and achieving pole position, the Mercedes driver converted his first starting position into a victory that, for much of the race, seemed on track to be calm. However, a succession of incidents in the second half completely transformed the Grand Prix and forced the Briton to defend until the last meter against Max Verstappen. The Dutchman finished second and once again was left at the gates of his first victory of the season, while Isack Hadjar completed an unexpected podium for Red Bull. Kimi Antonelli, for his part, starred in one of the great comebacks of the day: after having hit the wall in Q1 and starting from sixteenth position, he crossed the checkered flag in fifth place and scored fundamental points to stay in the fight for the championship.
The race began with a good start from Russell from pole. Behind, Oscar Piastri managed to overtake Charles Leclerc and place himself second, while the Ferrari began to lose positions in the first meters. Verstappen, who had started eighth after a complicated qualifying, also began to advance from the first laps.
During the first part of the race, however, the action was scarce. Baku is known for its long straights, its heavy braking and the narrow Old City sector, but this time the rhythm stabilized quickly. Russell began to build a considerable advantage at the front and the race acquired at times a linear rhythm, with few important changes in the positions. The first retirement came on lap nine, when Lance Stroll had to retire his Aston Martin. Later, on lap 22, Fernando Alonso also went out of the race. The two retirements did not cause an important transformation in the development of the race and Russell continued controlling the situation from the first position.
The race began to change on lap 30, when Lando Norris went off track. The McLaren driver had already been going through a complicated weekend and the incident once again distanced him from the privileged positions. However, the worst for the championship would arrive just one lap later. On lap 31, Alexander Albon suffered a heavy crash at turn 4. The impact was important enough to force the race to be neutralized and temporarily stop the action. The red flag generated a pause that completely modified the scenario and allowed the teams to prepare for a new race within the race.
The competition resumed on lap 36, but the restart once again generated movement immediately. Verstappen took the opportunity to overtake Piastri and advance in the fight for the first positions. However, the calm lasted very little. A new Safety Car appeared after a multiple incident that involved several drivers. The crash began when Franco Colapinto touched his teammate Pierre Gasly. The Alpine ended up making contact with Norris's McLaren, while, practically in the same sector, Arvid Lindblad crashed into Liam Lawson. The accident ended up causing the retirement of Colapinto, Gasly and Norris. For the Argentine it also meant the end of a streak of 26 consecutive races completed without a retirement, a sequence that he had managed to build since his arrival to a notable regularity during the season.
The situation forced all the cars to go through the pitlane and once again compacted the group. Baku, which during the first half had offered a relatively static race, suddenly transformed into a completely different scenario. McLaren was one of the big losers. Piastri, who had come to occupy second position, lost control of his McLaren on lap 40 and went wide. The Australian went from being third to falling to fifteenth place, leaving the way free for Isack Hadjar to inherit third position.
The French driver took advantage of a situation that few could foresee at the beginning of the race. Hadjar had started fourth and managed to stay in the fight until the end to achieve a podium of enormous value for Red Bull, accompanying Verstappen in a weekend that ended up being much more positive for the team than qualifying had anticipated.
Verstappen was precisely one of the big protagonists of the second half. The Dutchman had started from eighth place, but was advancing with patience while the rivals lost positions. The chaos of the last laps left him in a privileged position to fight for the victory. Russell, meanwhile, had done practically everything perfect. His Mercedes had been the fastest car during practice, had achieved pole and during much of the race had built an important advantage. But the neutralizations eliminated that difference and forced the Briton to defend his position in an ending completely different from what he had imagined.
Verstappen tried until the end. The Red Bull driver looked for every opportunity to get closer and used all the available speed to try to snatch the victory from Mercedes. Russell, however, resisted the pressure and reached the last lap still at the front. The tension increased even more when Valtteri Bottas suffered a crash on the last lap making the fight for first place have to go through there. Baku once again reminded that in its streets the race can change until the last instant.
Finally, Russell crossed the finish line just 0.126 seconds ahead of Verstappen. A minimal difference for a victory that during much of the race had seemed completely controlled. The Briton thus achieved his third victory of the season, after his triumphs in Australia and Austria, and closed a perfect weekend in which he was first in practice and achieved pole before taking the Grand Prix.
Verstappen, for his part, once again finished second and achieved his second consecutive podium after the result obtained in Madrid. The Dutchman continues looking for his first victory of 2026, but once again demonstrated that Red Bull can fight for the front positions. In Baku, furthermore, he came back from eighth place to finish just 126 thousandths from the winner.
Antonelli's fifth place also acquires a special importance. The championship leader had started Saturday from sixteenth position after his crash in qualifying and had a complicated race ahead of him. However, he took advantage of the different incidents to recover ten places and finish just behind the protagonists of the podium. The points obtained allow him to conserve an important advantage in the fight for the championship.
The contrast with McLaren was total. Piastri went from fighting for the podium to finishing outside the points after his off-track excursion, while Norris retired after the multiple incident. After the difficulties that the team had shown since practice and a complicated qualifying, Baku ended up becoming a weekend to forget for the team.
In total, only 15 drivers managed to complete the race. Stroll, Alonso, Norris, Colapinto, Gasly, Piastri, Albon and Bottas were out of combat, in a second half that contrasted completely with the first laps. Thus, Baku once again delivered one of those races that explain its special place within the calendar. The first half was controlled and at times linear, but the crashes, the flags and the restarts completely transformed the spectacle in the last laps. Russell survived the pressure, Verstappen once again stayed close and Hadjar took advantage of the chaos to climb onto the podium.
Formula 1 will have no rest. The activity will continue next week in Malaysia, which occupies the place that originally corresponded to the Bahrain Grand Prix in the 2026 calendar. It will be the beginning of a new consecutive stretch of races that will continue later with Singapore.
