George Russell said the final stint of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix was the most fun he could remember having in a race, as the tyres held up and allowed him to drive flat-out. He spent the closing laps under pressure from Max Verstappen, with both drivers on soft tyres, after the final Safety Car restart. Verstappen was seldom more than a second behind but did not get close enough to attempt an overtake.
Russell said the tyre performance meant the pair could focus on pace rather than conserving their tyres. “Max and I spoke about this,” he said. “The final stint, I think, is the most fun I’ve had in a race for as long as I can remember because the tyre felt great.”
He described the sequence of laps as similar to qualifying, with little margin for error on Baku’s street circuit. “We were pushing flat-out every single lap. It was like qualifying, one after another. You needed to be so alert around this circuit because the walls are so close, especially through the castle. You’re threading the needle.”
Russell said the final 10 laps recalled accounts of racing in the early to mid-2000s, when drivers could push hard on each lap. “Those final 10 laps felt really, really fun. It almost felt like the stories I hear of the drivers in the early-mid-2000s, when every lap was like a qualifying lap. The heart rate is higher, you’re pushing the limit every single lap, there’s no management.”
Formula 1 has faced criticism this year over power unit rules that require drivers to conserve energy. Russell said tyre conservation has also long limited how much drivers can push, but conditions on race day removed that constraint. “We’ve had a lot of conversations this year about [power unit] energy management, but the tyre management is still there and it has been there for years and years,” he said. “But just with how the temperatures and the circuit fell out today, with the tyres there was no management, and that was exceptionally fun.”
Verstappen also said he enjoyed the closing phase, despite not passing Russell. He described the track as demanding and said driving at the limit carried risks near the walls. “The last stint was fun,” he said. “I kissed a few walls as well, just to leave my mark here in Baku.”
“It’s always very challenging around here, qualifying and in the race now at the end as well, just pushing flat-out. It comes with risk, being close to certain walls on the inside, the outside. But it’s cool,” Verstappen said.
The comments followed the 2026 Azerbaijan Grand Prix, held in Baku on Sept. 27. Russell’s account centred on how tyre behaviour shaped the battle after the Safety Car restart, while Verstappen’s remarks also pointed to the close walls that make both qualifying and racing at the circuit challenging.
The report was written by Keith Collantine and published by RaceFans at 8:36 a.m. on Sept. 27, 2026. Collantine, a lifelong motor sport fan, founded RaceFans in 2005, when it was called F1 Fanatic. He had previously worked as a motoring journalist and began running the site full-time in 2010, pursuing his long-held ambition to devote his full attention to motor racing.
Based on reporting by RaceFans.