George Russell managed to secure his third victory of the season in the dramatic Azerbaijan Grand Prix, despite two pit lane excursions and strong pressure from Max Verstappen.
The Mercedes driver was able to overcome the late attack by former champion Max Verstappen to secure his third win of the season. The race in Azerbaijan was extremely chaotic, marked by six drivers retiring, including Lando Norris from McLaren.
In the second half of the race, the Mercedes driver built a strong start and controlled the pace in the first half, allowing Oscar Piastri to defend against the onslaught from the Red Bull team, consisting of Verstappen and Isak Hajar, while Russell increased his lead.
The situation in the race was complicated by an error from Alex Albon of Williams, after which the safety car was deployed. The British driver fought to maintain his position after the restart, but the action was interrupted a second time when Franco Colapinto blocked the wheels after colliding with his Alpine teammate Pierre Gasly and Norris.
When the track was neutralized again, Russell faced immense pressure from Verstappen in the final laps and ultimately finished by only ten-thousandths of a second ahead, denying the Dutchman a potential first victory of the season.
Isak Hajar finished third, securing a double podium for Red Bull. Charles Leclerc and Kimi Antonelli finished fourth and fifth, respectively; the Italian driver managed to improve his position from sixteenth to score points thanks to the chaos ahead.
Lewis Hamilton of Ferrari finished alone in sixth, ahead of Arvid Lindblad, who overtook Esteban Ocon to finish seventh. Ollie Berman and Carlos Sainz also finished, while Haas recorded its first points-scoring race since the Monaco Grand Prix.
Nico Hulkenberg of Audi finished eleventh, yielding to the leading Williams two laps before the end of the race, and Liam Lawson finished twelfth, disappointed after contact with his Racing Bulls teammate.
Gabriel Bortoleto finished thirteenth, and Oscar Piastri finished fourteenth, despite spending most of the race in the podium zone. His blocking led him outside the points zone, and he finished last among the participants, ahead of Sergio Perez from Cadillac.
Valtteri Bottas hit the barrier late and became the last driver not to finish the race (DNF), joining Albon, Colapinto, Norris, and Pierre Gasly. The Aston Martin duo, consisting of Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll, also failed to finish due to separate mechanical issues.