BAKU: George Russell re-entered the world championship conversation by holding off Max Verstappen to win Saturday’s nail-biting Azerbaijan Grand Prix by just one-tenth of a second, while title rival Kimi Antonelli finished fifth, PA Media/dpa reported.
Russell had all but raised the white flag after the previous round in Madrid, where Antonelli claimed his eighth victory of the year to extend his championship lead to 81 points.
But the British driver has been in inspired form on the streets of Baku, charging to pole position before negotiating two safety car periods and Verstappen’s late advances to claim his third win of the campaign and his first since the Austrian Grand Prix 90 days ago.
Russell has now cut Antonelli’s title lead to 66 points, with 208 still available across the remaining eight scheduled rounds.
It was damage limitation for Antonelli after his qualifying crash left him 16th on the grid. He was in the points by the 16th lap, and a safety car deployed on the 31st lap after Alex Albon crashed out fortuitously propelled him towards the back of the leading drivers.
Antonelli briefly dropped behind Lando Norris to ninth at the first restart, but moved up two places when Franco Colapinto wiped out both Alpine team-mate Pierre Gasly and Norris with a banzai move.
Antonelli made light work of Lewis Hamilton to take fifth with nine laps remaining. Isack Hadjar completed a double Red Bull podium by finishing third, one place ahead of Charles Leclerc, while Hamilton settled for sixth.
