Azerbaijan GP: Has Baku revived F1 title battle + Should Colapinto be banned?
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Did George Russell’s win in Baku signal a real comeback in the title fight?
The athletic.
The race is on, and George Russell finally got back to winning ways in the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. But it wasn't easy with Max Verstappen finishing just two tenths behind. But does this mark a breakthrough for Russell? And is Lando Norris right that Franco Collopinto deserved a ban for his turn one restart wipeout? I'm Edge Straw and joining me from Baku are Josh Sutil and Scott Mitchell Malm. Welcome to the Race F One podcast, presented by Atlassian. Scott Mitchell Malm. Longtime no see. We've probably got a whole band of recent converts to the Race F One podcast who have no idea who you are, given you've been on your extended holiday or whatever it was.
life the people who don't know who I am lead and uh unfortunately uh that that life has now been ended. Now now they will have to be uh confronted with the reality of me and I'm I'm disappointing those who do know who I am who have enjoyed my my absence. I I I wouldn't say I was uh I wouldn't say I was on on on holiday. I was uh I was away I was being a stay at home dad for for a few months so I can tell you that there were moments where that was any Anything but a holiday, but I'm delighted to be back. Uh it feels like I've never left the world of F1 as we um tried to find a makeshift location in our hotel to be able to record this podcast while some uh incredibly generic background music plays and there is the faint uh din of clashing uh glasses and dish uh dishes and whatnot that are clearly being cleared away somewhere around the corner.
But we're doing our best to to find somewhere suitable at the end of uh Saturday, not Sunday, to record this. Back when I was around, Grand Prix took place on Sundays, so everything's changed.
Yes, it's a completely different uh ball game, isn't it? I keep getting confused by the the days and obviously Josh you've had to uh shepherd Scott through the weekend. Did he get it back up to speed? Okay, did he match Isaac Hadjar in terms of the quality of his comeback?
Oh, absolutely not. I mean it was an amazing weekend for Hajjar and it was a good weekend for Scott, don't get me wrong, but it's not on those levels. It's a solid stand in you know, stand stand in a solid return to form uh for you. But it it's not s you know, we wanna save that praise to people like Hadjar.
I ended a driver's career on my first day back in
the paddock.
Like what more do you want from me? Yes, Esteban Ockon, who we will come to later in the podcast, but we've got lots to get through, so we shall pile into it now. Josh, this was a really much needed win for George Russell, the first since Austria in late June. How impressed were you with his performance across
the
weekend?
I was really impressed and I know what some people will be saying or thinking. Well Kimi Antonelli crashed in qualifying, that opened the door for Russell for a fairly comfortable win. But I think it was much, much more than that. In in qualifying, you know, Russell put all three of his best sectors together for that qualifying lap, had the most impressive margin, the biggest margin of qualifying all season uh of any pole sitter. Was just incredibly impressive there. And then in the race, uh just put everything together. That opening stint before the safety cars was incredibly impressive. Uh Russell referred to it as well as as it kind of been more like the kind of early to mid 2000s, of when every lap was like a qualifying lap.
And it actually really looked like that from the outside. He was just pulling away, putting in we were watching the timing screen, he was just putting in lap after lap, really consistently. Assistant, like the Russell we all knew had been in there and he was there this weekend. Then of course his advantage gets wiped away. He's got Maxus Eppen right behind him. What does he do? He keeps him behind, doesn't make a mistake, and yeah, just about keeps him behind over the line. So uh incredibly impressive.
Exactly, with that late curveball of the Valtery Bottas in the wall as well that we'll talk about in a moment.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
Did George Russell’s win in Baku signal a real comeback in the title fight?
0:02–8:32
2
How did Russell’s qualifying performance compare to his race pace in Azerbaijan?
8:32–16:10
3
What were the key factors that kept Max Verstappen within two‑tenths of Russell at the finish?
16:10–24:42
4
Should Franco Colapinto receive a race ban after his Turn 1 restart crash?
24:42–31:50
5
Is the five‑place grid penalty and lack of penalty points for Colapinto’s incident too lenient?
31:50–39:19
6
How did the stewards’ handling of teammate collisions (e.g., Limblad‑Lawson) affect the race outcome?
39:19–47:21
7
Did Ferrari’s car setup and engine issues explain Leclerc’s and Sainz’s under‑performance?
47:21–55:09
8
What does Haas’s points haul and Esteban Ocon’s future mean for the midfield battle?
55:09–1:01:44
Speakers
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