George Russell reigned supreme at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix on Saturday afternoon, meaning he has closed the gap on championship leader, and Mercedes stablemate, Kimi Antonelli to 66 points.
The Briton's victory was just his third of the 2026 campaign and keeps him in contention to capture his first Formula 1 World Championship with eight races, and a sprint, remaining.
The 28-year-old looked comfortable for large parts of proceedings in Baku and even some late chaos -- which saw Lando Norris crash out -- failed to deter him from victory as he held off the spirited challenge of Max Verstappen to take the chequered flag.
"It's amazing to be back on the top step of the podium, so a huge thank you to my team for helping me through some really difficult moments," he told Sky Sports.
"The first half of the race felt really plane sailing to be honest, but I knew that it wasn't going to be easy after the safety car restart.
"Max almost got me at the line, which would have been a real shame, but what a wonderful weekend -- I am so, so happy!"
How many Formula 1 Grand Prix races has George Russell won?
George Russell's victory on the streets of Baku means he now boasts eight Formula 1 Grand Prix victories.
His big breakthrough came at the 2022 Soo Paulo Grand Prix when he celebrated his maiden victory at Interlagos following a faultless display.
Following a winless 2023 campaign -- one that saw him hampered by car concept struggles -- Russell bounced back with two victories in 2024.
He firstly capitalised on a late-race collision to win in the Austrian Grand Prix before executing a perfect game plan to reign supreme under neon lights at the Las Vegas Grand Prix.
In 2025, after stepping into the number one driver role for Mercedes, Russell added two more prestigious trophies to his name, executing commanding drives to win the Canadian Grand Prix and the physical Singapore Grand Prix a few months later.
The current campaign has proven to be his most prolific yet however.
Benefiting from a competitive Mercedes package engineered for the sport’s latest regulation cycle, Russell captured early-season glory at the Australian Grand Prix and then followed that up with another hard-fought victory at the Austrian Grand Prix.
Then, in Azerbaijan, he went on to secure his third seasonal success -- the first time he has achieved that feat -- after converting a dominant pole position into a stunning win on the notoriously tight streets of Baku.
