At the Baku City Circuit, the words Russell spoke after qualifying became reality: the Mercedes driver had already predicted on Friday that, despite starting eighth, Verstappen would pose the biggest threat for victory, and that proved to be the case in a thrilling finale around the streets of Baku.
Verstappen fell just 0.196 seconds short of his first victory of the 2026 Formula 1 season at the line, although he stressed afterwards that the actual gap was slightly larger than that.
“Of course, it looked close on the line, but I think that was more because George suffered from a little bit of boost lag in Turn 1
