George Russell crossed the line just 0.1 seconds ahead of Max Verstappen to win the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.
Russell was under no threat at the start of the race after getting a good getaway on the short run down to turn 1, all the while Leclerc would drop down to 3rd after Piastri looked feisty and overtook the Ferrari driver in the early stages of lap 1.
Kimi Antonelli would’ve hoped for another great start to match the one he had in Monza when he last started towards the pack, but at the end of lap 1 he had actually lost a place, dropping down to 17th.
Verstappen was looking very strong in the early stages of the race, having climbed from 8th to 4th by the end of lap 4, just behind his teammate in the fight for the podium.
The Red Bulls were both looking incredibly quick, and Piastri was starting to struggle with his rear tyres, and with the team having quickly swapped Hadjar and Verstappen around, it looked likely that the four time world champion would soon get 2nd place.
Even though the overtake had initially seemed almost inevitable, Verstappen had begun to struggle on his medium set of tyres, unable to get close enough to Piastri ahead all the while keeping Hadjar within striking distance, particularly as it seemed that the soft tyres were experiencing less degradation than what was expected.
It looked as though there could have been a chance for Red Bull to swap the cars around, but Hadjar had said over the radio that he was happy where he was.
While this standoff for second place was going on, Russell was continuing to cruise into the distance, having created a gap of around 10 seconds by the half way point in this race, looking comfortably set for the win.
The race stayed processional for a while as drivers were still looking to go as long as they could on the tyres they started on, but on lap 30 Norris would have a lock up going into turn 1 which would cost him a couple of places to Gasly and Antonelli, dropping him to 9th.
A safety car would come out just moments later, as Alex Albon would put his car into the wall at turn 5, triggering a wave of pit stops to finally occur.
Chaos would erupt as soon as racing resumed on lap 36, as while Verstappen overtook Piastri for 2nd, the two Alpines would collide not far behind him, collecting Lando Norris in the process, all the while Lawson is spun by teammate Lindblad.
The next safety car restart would be much cleaner, with Piastri, who had fallen to fourth by the time the safety car came back out, regained 3rd place, and no other incidents took place over the course of the opening couple of corners.
Piastri wouldn’t hold on to 3rd for long though, as he would lock up heading into turn 1 just a lap after the restart, dropping him all the way down to 15th place.
Verstappen was keeping up with Russell throughout the entire last part of the race, ensuring that he was in the right position should the race leader make a mistake, though he was unable to get close enough to make an overtake.
On the last lap Russell had been about 6 tenths clear heading into sector 3, but with Bottas in the wall and yellow flags out, Verstappen was able to find some more time and got close to the back of Russell. Verstappen would follow in the slipstream of Russell ahead, and the two effectively had a drag race to the chequered flag, which Russell would just barely win by 0.1 seconds.
With Russell winning and Antonelli able to recover to 5th, it means that the gap at the top of the drivers championship has been cut down to 66 points.
The next time F1 races will see the long awaited return of Sepang International Circuit, as the Bahrain Grand Prix held in Malaysia will take place in just one week on Sunday, October 4.
