The report from our man Giles Richards has now landed, which means this live blog can conclude. It’s been a good day for George Russell in Azerbaijan, though he had to work mightily hard for the race win, coming under severe pressure from Red Bulls Max Verstappen and Isack Hadjar, who were second and third, after a dramatic finish to the race. Reigning world champion Lando Norris was among those who crashed out.
Kimi Antonelli, who was fifth, loses a bit of ground in the race for this year’s world championship. Next stop: Malaysia next weekend!
You may think Verstappen is happy with second, but that’s not his mentality.
“We had a good race, it was a bit difficult with the medium tyre, but we had a good restart … I got close, but it was not enough.”
Hadjar says: “I’m happy. It’s been a very long six weeks since I enjoyed myself, but I felt strong and I’m very happy for a first proper podium on pure pace. I’m completely satisfied.”
Let’s hear from the top three finishers, with Russell, Verstappen and Hadjar all speaking to the media. Timo Glock is on the microphone.
Russell says: “It’s amazing to be back on the top step of the podium. I’m really proud to have had this weekend. The first half of the race felt pretty plain sailing, Max almost got me on the line, but all-in-all an incredible weekend.
“I feel more like myself again, which is great.”
Race winner George Russell of Great Britain. Photograph: Guido De Bortoli/LAT Images
Victory for Russell in Baku – only just after a late charge by Verstappen! A big moment for the Brit in his quest to chase down Mercedes teammate Antonelli in the world championship standings.
The race finished with a yellow flag out after Valtteri Bottas crashed into a barrier.
Russell is the deserved race winner but he was made to sweat right at the end, winning by 0.1 seconds.
Russell wins ahead of Verstappen. Photograph: Andrej Isaković/AFP/Getty Images
Final lap: To be honest, it would now take something of a Devon Loch moment from Russell to squander this race victory. And he’s barely looked close to making a mistake this afternoon.
Verstappen still has speed but he just cannot get within striking distance of Russell, with time now running out. Red Bull may have to settle for two podiums for their drivers, without the actual race win.
Russell under pressure from Verstappen. Photograph: James Sutton/Formula 1/Getty Images
Lap 47/51: We’re at the real business end of this race now and Antonelli has sustained a bit of wing damage, which may impair his ability to climb further up the standings in the time he’s got left.
Will the world championship leader settle for fifth?
Russell has looked comfortable for the majority of the race, but Verstappen is giving it absolutely everything to push the Mercedes for the race win. The gap is around half a second, with five laps to go.
Lap 45/51: It’s shaping up to be a decent weekend for Haas, whose drivers Ocon and Bearman are in seventh and eighth respectively. They’ll be happy to pick up points.
There will be no further action for Lindblad and Liam Lawson for their turn one incident earlier on.
Lap 43/51: That didn’t take long! Antonelli is past Hamilton and into fifth. There’s a 3.5 second gap to Leclerc in fourth, which may not be insurmountable.
Lap 42/51: This is now an ideal situation for George Russell in his quest for the world championship. He’s out in front – though will have to see off Verstappen in the next nine laps – and Antonelli is still down in sixth, though the Italian deserves credit for making up so much ground.
Lap 41/51: The stewards have noted a number of incidents, which happened in those restarts after the safety car was out. It’s likely that Colapinto will be in trouble for causing Gasly and Norris to crash out.
Colapinto crashes his Alpine into Gasly and Norris. Photograph: Michael Potts/LAT Images
Lap 40/51: Verstappen is right into Russell’s slipstream down the straight – oh and Piastri locks up trying to defend from Hadjar and finds himself out of the points completely! The Australian has lost loads of places there.
Lap 39/51: Russell holds off Verstappen on the restart, but the Red Bull of Hadjar is pressurising Piastri. Doing something similar to Lewis Hamilton is Kimi Antonelli. The Red Bulls and the Mercedes have the speed right now.
Lap 38/51: To confirm: Gasly and Norris join Alonso, Stroll and Albon in being confirmed DNFs in this race. Somehow Colapinto is able to carry on, although he needs a pit stop with Lawson also OK to continue, although he lost a few positions.
Replays show Colapinto slide into his Alpine teammate Pierre Gasly, who in turn hit Norris, who was trying to get around the outside of the duo. That’s very unfortunate for Norris, really. He had nowhere to go.
Liam Lawson was also involved in a crash, hit by his teammate, Lindblad.
The yellow flag is being waved again after that crash, which appeared to have involved Norris. Goodness me, a nightmare for the reigning world champion, who is seen walking over the track and is car is picked up by recovery vehicles.
Gasly and Norris caught in a crash. Photograph: Joe Portlock/LAT Images
The recovery team are still clearing things up after Albon’s crash and the safety car is still out. Hopefully we get back to racing soon, because I think it could be rather exciting. Patience.
Lap 32/51: They’re all back out onto the track and the pack have closed up, with Russell’s huge lead pretty much gone. It could make for an exciting finale to the race.
Antonelli quickly pits and gets the soft tyres on; Lando Norris does the same after his lockup. Who will benefit from this safety car and will we get a red flag?
We shall find out soon. The top six still haven’t pitted, but Mercedes may bring their race leader Russell in shortly.
Oh no, what’s happened to Lando Norris? A big lockup from the McLaren has him spinning in circles on the straight – he’s lost positions, taken a big knock to the tyre and will need to box soon.
Norris locks a front left wheel under braking. Photograph: Michael Potts/LAT Images
Lap 27/51: Verstappen is again having to defend some attacks from Hadjar. “Can I go for it, or what?” is the – very relevant – question from the Frenchman, who is advised to “keep it clean” by team engineers.
George Russell is about to lap the back-marker, Valtteri Bottas, which shows how much quicker his Mercedes is than those teams at the back of the grid. It’s now a 10-second lead for the British driver, a comfortable day for him, although he’s just revealed he “nibbled” the wall on a recent turn. Shouldn’t be too much of an issue.
Oh dear, it’s not a pit stop for Alonso, the veteran driver is OUT of the race altogether. A double DNF for Aston Martin and a nightmare weekend for them, with major car issues.
Alonso retires from the race. Photograph: Andrej Isaković/AFP/Getty Images
Carlos Sainz in the Williams is the first driver to head for the pit lane. Will that trigger others to do the same? We’ll see – Alonso is also pitting.
