GEORGE RUSSELL soaked up the pressure to fend off Max Verstappen and toast his first win in four months – as Lando Norris demanded Franco Colapinto be BANNED for ruining his weekend.
British Mercedes driver Russell squeezed over the line by 0.196s to give himself a glimmer of hope in the title race.
It was fully deserved with Russell dominating from start to finish as Verstappen crawled his way closer after starting eighth on the grid.
Two back-to-back safety cars late on allowed Verstappen to hunt his old rival down for the final 11 laps.
Russell panicked with an energy deployment issue late on but held his nerve to win by a whisker as Verstappen was not quite able to make his overtaking move.
The Brit said: “It’s amazing to be back on the top step of the podium.
“I want to say a big thanks to the team for continuing to believe in me through the tough moments and helped me come through it. I’m really proud to have had this weekend.”
The win came on a weekend where Russell had a golden opportunity to make inroads on Kimi Antonelli’s title lead.
The young Italian crashed out in the first session of qualifying to start the race in 16th and recovered to finish in fifth.
It bridged the gap from Antonelli to his team-mate to 66 points after starting the weekend 81 points apart.
CASINO SPECIAL – BEST CASINO BONUSES FROM £10 DEPOSITS
Russell produced a squeaky-clean start while Oscar Piastri danced past the outside of Charles Leclerc at the start to take second from the Ferrari.
Piastri soon found himself in a tussle with Isack Hadjar who had bulldozed past Norris and Leclerc to snap at the McLaren’s heels.
Verstappen was creeping closer to the podium spots too and by lap seven he shot past Hadjar for third as the Frenchman was told to sit tight.
The expected safety car and cheap pit stops arrived on lap 30 when Alex Albon crashed at Turn Five of the twisty Baku City Circuit.
On the restart, Verstappen was taking no prisoners and shot past Piastri and moved into second place.
The race was put back under the safety car though as chaos at the restart saw a pile up between Franco Colapinto, Pierre Gasly and Norris.
Norris came off worse and was shoved into the barrier as his race was over.
He later ranted about Colapinto’s antics, saying: “Give him a ban. It’s quite simple.”
Norris added: “I think the FIA should be more strict and start handing out bans for this kind of stuff.
“It’s just careless from people.
“It costs a lot of money, all my parts are in the bin now.
“People should just get banned, because that’s not driving that deserves to be in Formula 1.”
The two Racing Bulls had also come together in the melee leading to a sarcastic Liam Lawson saying “I love it when my team-mate drives into me”.
That left Verstappen in prime spot for another restart, but cool as a cucumber Russell kept ahead.
Drama continued as Bottas crashed his Cadillac at Turn 15 and Russell was forced to back off his turbo, allowing Verstappen to close in, but it wasn’t quite enough.