George Russell led from begin to end as he dominated the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.
The victory decreased the championship lead of his Mercedes team-mate Kimi Antonelli to 66 factors – from 81 – after the Italian completed fifth, though he had recovered from beginning sixteenth on the grid.
Max Verstappen pushed Russell for the win as he took second place, lower than two tenths of a second behind. Fellow Pink Bull driver Isack Hadjar accomplished the rostrum by ending third on his return to racing following a wrist damage.
Listed below are my rankings for the way the drivers carried out throughout the entire weekend in Baku.
George Russell – 10/10
Fairly troublesome to seek out fault with this one. Quickest on Thursday, produced a shocking qualifying lap to take pole by greater than eight tenths and managed the race earlier than holding off Max Verstappen below big strain on the finish.
Max Verstappen – 9/10
His eighth place in qualifying appeared poor on paper however got here with real energy and vitality deployment issues. Charged by way of the sector on Saturday, handed Oscar Piastri for second and pushed Russell all the way in which to the road. A wonderful restoration.
Isack Hadjar – 9.5/10
What a method to return after three races on the sidelines. Out-qualified Verstappen with fourth on the grid, confirmed wonderful tempo early within the race and completed on the rostrum whereas additionally enjoying the staff recreation when Verstappen got here by way of.
Charles Leclerc – 7.5/10
Second on the grid was a wonderful qualifying consequence, though a tow definitely helped him get there. Ferrari merely did not have the race tempo to stick with Russell and the Pink Bulls and fourth felt in regards to the most out there by the tip.
Kimi Antonelli – 7/10
A weekend of two very completely different halves. Crashing out in Q1 was a expensive and pointless mistake, however he responded with a affected person restoration from sixteenth to fifth regardless of choosing up flooring injury throughout the race.
Lewis Hamilton – 6.5/10
His qualifying consequence was damage by Ferrari’s run plan leaving him with out the tow he wanted, however sixth in each qualifying and the race nonetheless made for a reasonably quiet weekend. Strong sufficient, though Leclerc had the higher hand when it mattered.
Arvid Lindblad – 7.5/10
Recovered once more impressively after crashing in observe and beginning fifteenth. Took benefit of the chaos when it got here after which stole seventh from Esteban Ocon by the tiniest of margins on the end. Goes a protracted method to limiting the grief he may get from punting into his Racing Bulls team-mate at Flip One.
Esteban Ocon – 8/10
A extremely robust race from the Haas driver after beginning exterior the highest 10. Made some decisive strikes as others fell into hassle and briefly appeared set for seventh earlier than Lindblad pinched it on the road.
Oliver Bearman – 6.5/10
Adequate to narrowly miss Q3 and stayed within the factors regardless of shedding out to Ocon throughout the race. Contact with Antonelli on the first restart was a barely messy second in an in any other case helpful consequence for Haas.
Carlos Sainz – 6/10
The tempo was encouraging and ninth in qualifying would have been Williams’ finest grid place of the season however failing to sluggish sufficiently for yellow flags earned him a five-place grid penalty. Recovered from as little as nineteenth within the race to seize the ultimate level.
