George Russell claimed victory in Sunday's Azerbaijan Grand Prix after the Mercedes driver led from start to finish on the streets of Baku.
The Mercedes driver crossed the finish line just ahead of four-time world champion Max Verstappen with his Red Bull teammate Isack Hadjar securing third place on his return to action after missing three races due to a wrist injury.
Ferrari's Charles Leclerc was fourth ahead of championship leader Kimi Antonelli, who climbed from 16th after crashing in qualifying to finish fifth, with Lewis Hamilton sixth. Racing Bulls rookie Arvid Lindblad finished seventh, Esteban Ocon took eighth ahead of teammate Oliver Bearman in a double points finish for Haas and Carlos Sainz rounded out the top 10 for Williams.
Russell had dominated qualifying, finishing a massive 0.837 seconds ahead of Leclerc to claim pole position, and maintained control throughout despite the efforts of Verstappen who had started in eight place.
Two safety cars in quick succession – that saw Alex Albon and Lando Norris crash out of the race – meant Verstappen was on Russell's tail but could not get close enough to try an overtaking move, although the Dutchman would finish just under 0.2 seconds behind the winner.
Victory means Russell has cut Italian teammate Antonelli's championship lead by 15 points to 66 after 15 rounds, in what was the Briton's third win of the season after taking the chequered flag at the opening race in Australia and June's Austrian GP.
“It's amazing to be back on the top step of the podium,” said Russell. “I do want to say a big thanks to my team because they've continued to believe in me through a tough moment, helped me come through it.
“I'm really proud to have had this weekend. The first half of the race felt pretty plain sailing, building the gap. Safety car restart, especially when I saw Max behind I thought it's not going to be easy and he drove incredibly at the end of the race.
“When the yellow flag came out, I lifted off the power and when went back, I had no turbo so then I had no power, Max almost got me at the line.”
And when asked what his plan is for the rest of the season, Russell replied: “Win every race. That's the game plan. My teammate's had an incredible season, he's been pretty flawless throughout but now we're getting to crunch time.
“I'm just going to focus on myself. If I continue giving performances like I did this weekend, at the end of the season I'll be happy because it's been a tough period for me and I'll feel like I've come through the other side.”
Verstappen, meanwhile, was happy to be back on the podium. “Yeah we had a good race,” he said. “On the final lap with the yellow flag, I think George lost a bit of boost out of one corner, so that is why I caught up quite a bit and then to the line, I got close but it was not enough.
“I just tried to open the corner, probably a little bit too much but the tyres were fine.”
Verstappen's teammate Hadjar made it a hat-trick of podium finishes in his career – having also finished third at Zandvoort in 2025 and Monaco in June.
“I'm happy,” said the 21-year-old Frenchman. “It's been a very long six weeks, been six weeks since I injured myself and I felt it was the right time to come back.
This weekend I really took it step by step. It's a track where you can end up in the wall really quickly. It was a very slow build-up but it brought me here … I'm delighted.”
McLaren endured a miserable day at the office which saw reigning champion Norris crash out the race on Lap 36, quickly followed by a huge lock-up from Oscar Piastri which saw the Australian drop from a potential podium spot to finishing 14th.
Norris's race was ended due to an error from Franco Colapinto who locked up his tyres and barrelled his Alpine teammate Pierre Gasly, with the McLaren also caught up in the melee.
“I was just slow, slow going a lot in the straights. An impossible race out there with straight-line speed, hopefully that gets fixed,” said a downcast Norris. “At the end of the day I got taken out, just some drivers who shouldn't be in F1 to be honest. Maybe Malaysia will be better for us.”
