George Russell had looked dominant all weekend at the Azerbaijan GP, but had to hold off a charging Max Verstappen on the run to the flag to win his third race of the 2026 F1 season, beating the four-time world champion by just 0.196 seconds over the line.
In a race that was primarily defined by Safety Car restarts and tyre strategy, the soft compound tyres proved to be the best choice of the day. Russell started the race on mediums, and looked in a comfortable position to win the race with a big margin to the rest of the field.
Russell: Safety Car restarts are “very challenging” with the 2026 PUs
But that comfortable cushion went away in a split second, as Williams’ Alex Albon found the barriers at turn five and the Safety Car was called for the first time in the race.
Russell and Mercedes immediately took the opportunity to switch onto the favoured soft tyres, but the prospect of a restart from the lead was a “first” for the Briton with the 2026 power units – and he admitted after the Azerbaijan GP, “it needs a lot more thought” than previously:
“The first half of the race felt pretty plain sailing, getting a gap,” he admitted. “[Then] the Safety Car restart, especially when I saw Max [Verstappen] behind, I thought ‘it’s not going to be easy‘.
“It [was] the first restart I’ve done this season from the lead. These power units are very challenging at restarts, getting the battery in the right place for turbo spinning at the right speed,” said Russell. “And I always do good preparation on what I want to do at a restart. It needs a lot more thought into it than ever before.”
Along with managing his battery pack, Russell also had to defend against a charging Max Verstappen, who he “knew” would attack if given the chance, which proved to be a pivotal point in his race, given the strog pace shown by the Red Bull drivers in the final stint:
“I was keeping an eye on my mirrors where Max was, and I had waited for that moment when the gap was just slightly larger, and managed to break [away from] him.
“Because I knew if he saw half a chance, he would have been sending it down the inside. So, I was pleased with it.”
Russell: Final stint of “qualifying laps” battling Verstappen was “really good fun” in 2026 F1 Azerbaijan GP
After fending off Verstappen at the first restart, Russell had to do it all over again just a few laps later, following Franco Colapinto’s mistake at the first turn which took out Lando Norris and his Alpine team-mate Pierre Gasly.
Once again, Russell kept his cool and managed to retain the lead, and with the pace he had shown throughout the weekend, one would be forgiven for assuming the Mercedes drove away into the distance and left Verstappen behind.
But that wasn’t remotely the case, as the Dutchman managed to keep close tabs on Russell and pushed him all the way to the flag in an intense battle around the streets of Baku.
“Well, I think Max and myself were probably the two quickest drivers out there,” Russell added. “And the soft tyre looked the best tyre, so I think that was maybe not allowing Max to get past [Oscar] Piastri [in the first stint].
“But clearly that final stint, the two of us were exceptionally fast and we were pulling a second a lap almost to the rest of the field, which was really good fun, to be honest.
“It felt like qualifying laps, one after another, and I knew I couldn’t make a single mistake. But certainly, the last 10 laps were a bit more tense than the first 40.”
Durable tyres allowed to go “flat out” every lap of 2026 F1 Azerbaijan GP
The main reason that allowed the final stint to be such a “fun” one, according to Russell, was just how durable the Pirelli F1 tyres proved to be this weekend at the 2026 Azerbaijan GP, allowing drivers to push “flat out” every lap.
The Briton, who sits second in the drivers’ championship, even went as far as saying it was “the most fun” he’s had at a race for a long time, such was the extent to which he could rely on his tyres, which reminded him of what F1 used to be a couple of decades ago:
“The final stint, I think, is the most amount of fun I’ve had in a race for as long as I can remember,” he said. “Because the tyre felt great. We were pushing flat out every single lap. It was like qualifying one after another.
“You needed to be so alert around this circuit, because the walls are so close, especially through the castle. You’re threading the needle.
“Those final 10 laps felt really, really fun. And it almost felt like the stories I hear of the drivers in the early-mid 2000s, of when every lap was like a qualifying lap – the heart rate is higher, you’re pushing the limit every single lap, there’s no management.
“We’ve had a lot of conversations this year about PU energy management, but the tyre management is still there and it has been there for years and years.
“But just with how the temperatures and the circuit fell out today, with the tyres there was no management, and that was exceptionally fun.”
Lack of boost nearly cost Russell at the end of 2026 F1 Azerbaijan GP
Perhaps the most tense moment of the race for Russell came right at the final lap, when the stricken Cadillac of Valtteri Bottas caused a localized double-waved yellow at turn 15.
One of the quirks of these 2026 regulations meant Russell lost access to his boost mode by lifting for the yellow flags, which meant Verstappen could keep in range ahead of a tense final dash to the line, which the Mercedes driver won out by just under two tenths of a second to secure his first career Grand Slam in F1:
“[Verstappen] drove incredibly at the end of the race. And then when the yellow flag came out, I lifted off the power and when I went back, I had no turbo, so then I had no power. Max almost got me at the line. So yeah, that would have been a real shame. But all in all, incredible weekend.“
