'There’s much less pressure on me than there is him' – Russell on title fight

George Russell won his third Grand Prix of the season with victory in Baku, the Mercedes man standing on the top step of the rostrum for the first time since Austria.

In doing so, he cut his team mate’s lead in the Drivers’ Championship, Kimi Antonelli now 66 points ahead in the standings.

Antonelli arrived in Azerbaijan with an 81-point advantage over Russell following his back-to-back victories in Monza and Madrid. That translated to over three race wins, meaning the Italian could DNF at all three Grands Prix of this triple-header and still head to Austin in the lead.

Russell was in dominant form in Baku, topping two of the practice sessions before taking pole by the biggest margin of the season. His championship hopes were then aided by Antonelli crashing in Q1, and thus only qualifying 16th.

It was arguably the first big mistake from Antonelli since China, and while the 20-year-old recovered to finish fifth, Russell’s win saw him gain 15 points on his rival.

“There’s much less pressure on me than there is him," said Russell. "As I said [Friday], he’s had an incredibly flawless season. [Qualifying] was probably his first mistake of this whole season in a proper session... and he still came home in P5.”

“I didn’t really consider myself in this fight for a number of races, purely because my performance wasn’t strong enough. Now I feel like if the season were to have started today, or since the summer break, you know, I feel very much I would have been able to fight.

“Now I’ve got this big deficit. It can change quick. So, I’m not chasing that. I’m chasing to win every race, and what will be, will be.”

Russell has admitted already this season that he is not quite getting on as well with the new generation of cars as his team mate, despite a strong start to the year with pole and the win in Australia.

When he then took pole for the Sprint in Shanghai and won that dash, it looked like he was justifying his pre-season tag as favourite for the title. But after China, Russell didn't make the podium for four rounds, and was not helped by a run to the summer break that included a DNF in Spa and only seventh in Hungary.

Last season after Round 15, Oscar Piastri led Lando Norris by 34 points in the standings, with Max Verstappen a staggering 104 points behind the Australian. And yet come Abu Dhabi, Norris won the title, finishing 13 points ahead of his team mate and just two points clear of Verstappen.

That was a 47-point swing from Piastri to Norris, and a 115-point swing from Piastri to Verstappen. In such light, Russell’s 66-point deficit does not look quite so insurmountable, especially considering the Briton’s current form.

Whether the pressure will start to tell on Antonelli remains to be seen. He drove a sensible, considered race in Baku to recover to fifth, not taking any risks and not scything his way through the field with the same swagger he managed in Monza.

But if his team mate keeps performing like he did in Azerbaijan, Antonelli might find things are only going to get harder form here on out.