Verstappen charges from eighth to third in the opening laps in Baku as Russell leads
Russell leads Piastri from pole, Hadjar recovers to fourth and Antonelli climbs from 17th to 14th
George Russell leads the Azerbaijan Grand Prix after eight laps, but the story of the opening stint is Max Verstappen. Starting eighth on medium tyres after his engine problem in qualifying, the Red Bull driver was up to third by lap 7 and is now right behind Oscar Piastri.
Order after lap 8: 1 George Russell, 2 Oscar Piastri, 3 Max Verstappen, 4 Isack Hadjar, 5 Charles Leclerc.
Russell away cleanly, Piastri takes second
Russell made a strong start from pole on mediums and kept the lead through the first corners. Piastri, on softs, got past Charles Leclerc for second. Russell’s lead settled at around 2.9 seconds with laps in the 1:47.8 range, but it has not grown since.
Five places in seven laps on the harder tyre
Verstappen passed Lewis Hamilton, Lando Norris and Leclerc, the last of them at high speed on the long straight, and set the fastest lap of the race on lap 3. Isack Hadjar dropped from fourth to fifth at the start, then passed Norris and Leclerc to run third. When Verstappen caught his team-mate, he went by in the slipstream and Hadjar did not put up much of a defence.
Piastri is now the one under pressure. He has been warned over the radio about the two Red Bulls behind him, and he has reported that his soft tyres are starting to struggle. Verstappen was 0.4 seconds behind him on lap 8.
Antonelli stuck in the midfield
Championship leader Kimi Antonelli lost a place at the start and ran 17th, before working his way up to 14th. He started with more fresh soft tyres than anyone, which gives Mercedes options later in the race.
Lance Stroll, who started from the back after his power unit penalty, has retired with a technical problem, the first retirement of the race.
Our early verdict: the tyres will decide who wins
Russell and Verstappen are the two front-runners on mediums, so the soft runners around them, Piastri, Hadjar and Leclerc, should have to stop first. We think that makes this a straight fight between Russell’s track position and Verstappen’s pace, and the first pit window will show which one Red Bull and Mercedes trust. That is our reading of the race so far.
Can Verstappen catch Russell, or has Mercedes got this one covered? Tell us in the comments.
Follow the rest of the race
We are following the Grand Prix on our live blog, and the full classification goes into our Azerbaijan Grand Prix results page as soon as it is official.
