George Russell took a slender win at Baku as he re-enters the 2026 Method 1 title dialog after the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.
Russell received for the primary time in 2026 because the Austrian GP, after taking the chequered flag only a tenth-of-a-second forward of Max Verstappen on the Baku Metropolis Avenue Circuit.
After a commanding pole lap on Friday, Russell led a lot of the 51-lap race to chop his championship deficit to team-mate Andrea Kimi Antonelli to 66 factors.
The Mercedes driver has seen a pointy resurgence in efficiency because the summer season break, and mirrored on the race as vindication for the persistence he and the workforce confirmed throughout his mid-season hunch.
“Yeah, it feels it feels nice to be sincere,” he mentioned.
“I’m very pleased with the kind of resilience that I’m, my shut group of engineers have proven throughout the robust durations this 12 months, as a result of there’s been loads of laborious work to beat a number of the challenges to adapt my driving model to swimsuit this new automotive higher.
“And F1 is so robust, you don’t get alternatives to practise this.”
Russell described how driving by means of the method of adapting to those automobiles resulted in a “flawless” race weekend at Baku.
“And eventually, it’s coming to me a bit extra intuitively than it as soon as did,” he added.
“And I’m gaining confidence. And particularly on circuits like this, it simply means that you can eke out that little bit extra on the brakes, get that little bit nearer to the partitions.
And it’s been a flawless weekend.”
George Russell feels he can struggle for F1 wins “week in week out” after Azerbaijan GP
Russell had struggled in comparison with Antonelli to extract the utmost from his W17 bundle.
This meant whereas the Italian driver saved extending his championship lead, the Briton was extra centered on getting himself in tune with the 2026 equipment.
However the summer season break has emerged as considerably of a turning level for Russell in his title bid.
For the reason that Dutch GP, Russell has scored podiums on the Netherlands and Monza, lastly culminating in a near-perfect race weekend at Baku (Max Verstappen claimed P1 in FP3).
“Yeah, I believe I by no means misplaced that religion in myself, even by means of robust moments. I knew there was a cause why I used to be off the tempo,” Russell defined.
Trying ahead to the rest of the 2026 season, Russell believes he can now persistently struggle on the sharp finish of the sector.
“It wasn’t like I simply instantly forgot tips on how to drive. And I knew I’d be capable to to seek out it once more. I simply needed to be affected person,” he concluded.
“So I really feel assured now. It’s been 4 races because the break and on the entrance row in three of them. So three podiums from the 4 races, I really feel I can struggle for victory week in week out now.”
Russell can be hoping to claw again some extra factors in opposition to his team-mate as F1 returns to Sepang for the Bahrain GP in Malaysia subsequent.
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