- 6 hours ago
We're back in Baku for another eventful Grand Prix, with chaotic collisions and epic battles all the way to the chequered flag.
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00:01We're underway and racing on the streets of Baku. Good launch for Piastri, sends him to P2.
00:07Can the Ferrari come back? No, Piastri will get the place. George Russell maintains the lead.
00:14Can Antonelli get through the first few corners of the racetrack safely? Dive to the inside for
00:18Lewis Hamilton to get past Pierre Gasly who had a good launch. It's P6 maintained. It's Russell,
00:24Piastri have a place, then Leclerc, Norris and Hajar. Norris gets past Hajar and can he hold on
00:29to it? Yes he will in the braking zone of three. Yeah, double win for McLaren. That outside line,
00:35the grippier off the line and Piastri had great traction to jump ahead of Leclerc who didn't
00:39fancy getting too aggressive on the inside line for one and two. Meanwhile you had Norris sweeping
00:44around Hajar in a similar move just behind. Verstappen's also made a place ahead of Pierre
00:49Gasly so he's on the tail of Lewis Hamilton. Antonelli ultra cautious on this first lap,
00:54losing a position. He is down to 17th. Yeah, look at both of the McLarens getting decent starts.
01:02Piastri's start was brilliant. Already ahead of Leclerc by the breaking point for turn one.
01:06Norris had a little more to do to clear Hajar. He looks very racy in the back of your shot.
01:13It's the second navy red bull. There is Max Verstappen diving to the inside of his old rival.
01:18Gets the place, gets the move. Medium tyres making the move on the Ferrari and it's up to P6.
01:25The Ferrari punching a hole in the air. It's the inside line for Isaac Hajar who uses his deployment
01:31to take back the place that he lost at the start. He slows down the red bull and he has
01:36fourth position.
01:38Is there another chance? The red bull's on the attack and now it was Hajar. Now it's Verstappen.
01:45Lando Norris losing two positions and it's Hajar in fourth, Verstappen in fifth.
01:51Now what can Hajar do? Back in Formula One and back on the attack. Charles Leclerc trying to defend.
01:57Will he be able to do so? Another position gained or is it? No! Side by side we go. They
02:03manage to give
02:04each other racing room and the Ferrari stays ahead in P3. That'll bring Verstappen with his teammate
02:09now as well. Big defense there from Charles Leclerc. I thought that was going to be bold for Hajar
02:13around the outside. Here we go again in the wheel tracks. Once more the Ferrari hugs the inside line.
02:18Once more the red bull stays on the racing line and takes the place. Daining with every meter that he
02:25runs to the line. Red bull having a brilliant start. You can see why they were so disappointed
02:29yesterday because they have amazing pace with that car. At the circuit where they won the Grand Prix,
02:33one year ago. It's Hajar in third now and Verstappen clearing another car to move up to fourth.
02:41Red Bull versus Red Bull has previous history into turn one. Verstappen car behind. Remember,
02:46race time is priority here. And as a result, he gets by with the aid of the team. No need
02:51to fight,
02:52no need to battle. They've both got great cars underneath them. Isaac, if you had free air,
02:58how much faster could you go? Soon three tenths on leave. I'm happy to stay here honestly,
03:02otherwise we're just going to lose town. Side by side, two champions in Formula One and Hamilton
03:07take sixth position. Kimi Antonelli easing past Oli Behrmann, who will not fight that position
03:16particularly hard. Behrmann will know the Mercedes is going to come past at some point. I think he'd be
03:20surprised it's taken 17 laps for Antonelli to come past him today. White flag goes out from Colopinto,
03:28and through goes Antonelli up into ninth place. They're not going to keep Kimi behind until the
03:32checkered flags. There's no point wasting time when a double points finish for Alpine is important for them.
03:38The crucial pit stops that are going to decide so much of this Grand Prix. Whoa, someone's had a lockup.
03:45Lando Norris has had a lockup into turn one, has to take the long way round, and that will give
03:50positions. Norris back on the racetrack, but Gasly has gone through and Antonelli has gone through as well.
03:57On board, turn one, huge speed, and it was a lockup in qualifying. It's a lockup in the Grand Prix,
04:02cost him two places. And there is Alex Albon in the Tech Pro and out of the race. I don't
04:10think there's
04:10an easy way to clear that car. There isn't. Full safety car is out on Baku City Circuit.
04:16There's the lockup. There's the barrier. End of the race.
04:22As we go over the line, the green flag flies, and it is very tight in the background. Between second
04:28and third, to the inside goes Max Verstappen. Lockup from the Alpine to collide. And they make contact
04:34in the background, surely taking out Lando Norris as well. Russell leads. Chaos on the restart.
04:39Oh, it's heartbreak for Alpine. The two of them and Norris and plenty of others skittled at the first
04:45turn, and that's always the risk of the late restart. The Russell took it to the line, and you have
04:50all
04:50the cars bunched together. Oh, it's Franco. It's Franco. Franco Colopinto into Pierre Gasly, into Lando Norris,
04:59and Alpine's chances of points evaporate. Colopinto's out of control. Oh, that's a bad one.
05:05No way. Did Lindblad and Lawson hit each other at the same time? Let's have a look at Colopinto,
05:10who's so busy in his mirrors. I don't think he's trying to make an overtake, but he misses the
05:14breakpoint. Side pod. Contact. Arvid Lindblad is the driver. We're on board with Liam Lawson ahead,
05:23and it's synchronized teammate contact. All of those guys in front, slim chance of points. Oh, okay.
05:31Through we go. The racing bulls for good measure out next to you. And then he was close with his
05:35teammate into two. And he makes it. Ocon past Behrmann. The green flag flies once again. Here
05:42we go. Huge speed to turn number one. It's Hadjar versus Piastri in the background, but George Russell
05:48has the race lead ahead of Max Verstappen. Piastri hangs on to third under big pressure. Russell got a much
05:54better restart that time. Remember what we saw from Verstappen. Great straight line speed and amazing
06:02confidence on the brakes. That applies to both red balls. Lockup for Oscar Piastri. And Hadjar goes
06:08through to the podium places. Off the podium for Oscar Piastri, who was under pressure and drops down
06:14out of the points. On board with Oscar Piastri, who has another tough moment in Baku. And Antonelli seems
06:25to have a lot of speed before we even get to the breaking zone. No contest. He is up to
06:29P5.
06:32That's Valtteri Bottas ahead. So that's going to need an intervention because that's where the leaders are
06:37heading to. Well, suddenly Verstappen is on his tail. He's on his tail at the end. This is going to
06:41be the
06:42last braking zone on the last lap. And suddenly we are going to get a drag race to the line.
06:47He's going
06:47to be close. He's going to have the opportunity in the slipstream. George Russell is going up through
06:52the gears and he will see the checkered flag first. But will he reach it first? George Russell will not
06:57have believed what he saw in front of him. He's had the examination of Verstappen getting closer and
07:02closer and closer. And it's all the way to the line. And the line is a long way down that
07:08straight for
07:08George Russell, who wins the Grand Prix by a tenth of a second. Russell wins the Azerbaijan Grand Prix
07:17by one tenth of a second. He was on pole by eight tenths. At the end of 51 laps, he's
07:25won it by one
07:26tenth. And the drag races continue with Arvid Lindblad up to seventh position. He gets Ocon on the line.
07:32Ocon and Lindblad. Our timing page reads 0.0. Ocon's been beaten to seventh place by three hundredths
07:42of a second. It's Mercedes day, but it was in question all the way to the checkered flag. Russell
07:49taking the win and taking 15 points out of Kimi Antonelli in the World Championship.