George Russell wins in Azerbaijan to trim Antonelli’s F1 lead as Norris crashes out

BAKU, Azerbaijan (AP) — George Russell held off Max Verstappen for his first Formula 1 win in three months to cut into Kimi Antonelli’s standings lead at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix on Saturday.

Russell started on pole and built a big lead before having to defend on two safety-car restarts, before defending from Verstappen, who charged through the field from eighth to second and nearly chased down Russell on the last straight.

A last-lap crash by Cadillac’s Valtteri Bottas forced Russell and Verstappen to slow and the Dutch driver hunted down Russell right after that, closing fast as the finish line approached.

He ultimately was less than two-tenths of a second behind as he remains winless this year for the first time since his rookie 2016 season.

“I lost the boost, I had no power. Thought he was going to get us,” a relieved Russell said.

Verstappen’s Red Bull teammate Isack Hadjar was third on his return from injury.

On a miserable day for McLaren, defending champion Lando Norris was taken out in a crash started by Franco Colapinto before Oscar Piastri went off-track defending third place and ended up 14th.

Antonelli helped by a fast car and good luck

Antonelli started 16th after a qualifying crash but ended up fifth as he limited the damage to his title lead, swerving to avoid a three-car crash ahead of him and later overtaking Lewis Hamilton.

The Italian had a lucky day as he benefited from a string of mistakes from drivers ahead, without being swept up in their incidents.

Antonelli swerved to avoid a three-car crash which took out Norris of McLaren, caused by Alpine’s Colapinto plowing into his own teammate Pierre Gasly.

McLaren’s day got even worse when Piastri locked up his wheels while in third and defending from Hadjar. The Australian went off track and dropped all the way to 15th, helping out Antonelli in the process.

___

See AP’s full auto racing coverage here