George Russell produced the most statistically complete weekend of his Formula 1 career to win the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, but did the performance confirm the Brit is back to his best?

Russell drove superbly in Baku to claim the first Grand Slam of his career, taking pole position, leading from lights-to-flag on his way to victory, and setting the fastest lap of the race.

The result saw Russell reduce his Mercedes team-mate Kimi Antonelli’s lead at the top of the world championship to 66 points with eight rounds remaining, ensuring some intrigue remains as the season enters its closing stretch.

Regardless of whether Russell is able to mount a challenge over the remainder of the season, the gulf between him and Antonelli in recent months had begun to create doubts over the 28-year-old’s prospects of ever winning a championship while driving alongside the Italian.

There were extenuating circumstances for Antonelli in Baku as he missed a significant chunk of practice with technical issues before crashing out of qualifying to leave himself 16th on the grid, but this was the first time since the opening weekend of the season that Russell had so clearly outperformed him.

Russell has been open in recent months about his difficulty understanding his deficit to Antonelli, which he has largely attributed to the different challenges posed by F1’s new cars for 2026, but feels his Baku display was confirmation that a corner has been turned.

Russell said: “I think it’s probably my first Grand Slam in Formula 1 and, for sure, the most dominant weekend I’ve had in my career, so that has come at a really great moment.

“And also to achieve it on a circuit that requires so much commitment and confidence, I’m really proud of because I think it would have been very easy for me to lose the faith this season. Not necessarily about winning the championship, but in terms of my ability, and that never happened.

“I’m very proud of the resilience that I and my close group of engineers have shown during the tough periods this year because there’s been a lot of hard work to overcome some of the challenges, to adapt my driving style to suit this new car better.

“And F1 is so tough, you don’t get opportunities to practice this, and finally it’s coming to me a bit more intuitively than it once did, and I’m gaining confidence.”

‘He definitely stepped up’

Russell’s victory was made all the more impressive by the fact he had to fend off Red Bull’s Max Verstappen in the closing stages having had a big lead taken away by two Safety Car interruptions.

A thrilling race to the chequered flag saw Russell end up just a tenth of a second clear of Verstappen, creating the smallest margin of victory in an F1 race since 2002.

Three-time W Series champion and Sky Sports F1 pundit Jamie Chadwick believes the performance was confirmation that Russell has raised his level.

“He’s definitely stepped up,” Chadwick said.

“It’s a big points gap but I think the championship is still something to be excited about, which for a lot of us coming into this weekend maybe we didn’t expect. So that’s something to look forward to now.”

Sky Sports F1’s Karun Chandhok was particularly impressed by the way Russell fended off four-time world champion Verstappen in the closing stages.

“That last stint from George, he had Verstappen piling the pressure on,” Chandhok said. “In some ways that’s more satisfying for George.

“It’s one thing disappearing off, 10 seconds in the lead and driving by yourself. But winning under pressure will give him more satisfaction.”

Can Russell keep it up?

If Russell really has returned to form, it was good time to do so, with the Azerbaijan Grand Prix having been the first of six races in seven weeks.

The Bahrain Grand Prix, taking place in Malaysia, follows next weekend, with the Singapore Grand Prix completing a triple-header. Then come back-to-back races in the United States, Mexico and Brazil.

The fact Russell needs to take a grid penalty before the end of the season for changing engine stiffens his task, but just proving that he can match Antonelli for pace over the remainder of the year would be a huge psychological boost going into 2027.

Having rarely spoken with any great confidence in recent months, Russell’s view on how he sees the battle between himself and Antonelli going forward suggests he has his mojo back.

“There’s much less pressure on me than there is him,” Russell said. “He’s had an incredibly flawless season. Yesterday was probably his first mistake of this whole season in a proper session, qualifying, race, and he still came home in P5 today.

“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, I feel very much I would have been able to fight.

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

Formula 1 heads to Malaysia for the first time since 2017 as it hosts the Bahrain Grand Prix at the Sepang International Circuit – watch live coverage from Friday morning, live on Sky Sports F1. Stream Sky Sports with NOW – no contract, cancel anytime

We have a busy day’s racing on Sunday with flat action from Ffos Las, live on Sky Sports Racing…

3.34 Ffos Las – Romanza and Silent Force contest strong novice

A deep edition of this Celebrate In Style At The Bridge Novice Stakes at Ffos Las where Romanza drops in grade for Charlie Fellowes.

Rated 90 after five outings this season, this Frankel gelding has shown enough to feel a success is imminent. Having not been beaten far in Listed company last time, he is hard to oppose.

Andrew Balding’s Silent Force has only had the sole start when third at Newbury last month and, with that form having been advertised since, he must be feared under Callum Hutchinson.

Ghost Raider has run two good races at Kempton and York so far and rates best of the rest.

1.49 Ffos Las – Recent winner Rhodes Runner faces seven rivals

Recent winner Rhodes Runner faces seven rivals in an open Bridge, The Home Of The Carvery Nursery Handicap at 1.49pm.

The Ralph Beckett-trained filly recorded her first success when taking a Chester novice impressively and looks the type who can be competitive back in handicaps.

Jamie Osborne saddles Blondie Larry who makes his handicap debut off a mark of 73. Second on his last two outings, he looks a big threat under William Carver.

Naval Cop and Perigold Noir look best of the remainder.

2.59 Ffos Las – Campeona and Carthusian do battle

Campeona and Carthusian do battle in a trappy Happy Birthday Alex, From The Bridge Handicap over two miles.

Sir Mark Prescott’s Campeona rattled off a quick-fire treble earlier this summer but has suffered defeat the last two times. She dips down in class here and the switch to the turf is a positive.

Carthusian scored on stable debut for Jennie Candlish at Chester earlier this month and might be able to build on that over this extra distance.

A Daughters Love, No Ordinary Joe and Queenie St Clair complete the quintet.

Best of the rest

7.45am Caulfield – Manikato Stakes – Jimmysstar and Beiwacht headline.

7.40am Nakayama – Group One Sprinters Stakes.

Sha Tin

12.40 Craon – Listed affair. Matsauri Bay and Spinning Lizzie feature.

Brandt Snedeker has given a self-critical assessment of his own Presidents Cup captaincy so far, with time quickly running out to avoid an embarrassing defeat for Team USA on home soil.

Team USA came into the week as overwhelming favourites to claim a record-extending 11th consecutive victory, in a biennial event where much of the pre-tournament narrative was around whether change was needed to make it more competitive.

Next to no hope had been given to Geoff Ogilvy’s International Team, who earned their only Presidents Cup win in 1998 and have lost every edition since a 17-17 tie in 2003, but they are now five points away from completing a seismic shock at Medinah.

A clean sweep in the Friday foursomes gave the visitors a 7-3 advantage heading into Saturday’s double session, where the Internationals saw the leaderboard filled with red numbers in both – indicating American leads – before delivering late fightbacks.

The Internationals claimed a share of the spoils in the afternoon foursomes to take a 10.5-7.5 advantage into the Sunday singles, just the fourth time they’ve led heading into the final day of a Presidents Cup and first experience of it on American soil.

“It’s tough when there’s all red on the board, but to get 2-2 out of that afternoon session and to go into tomorrow with a lead, which was the goal at the start of the week, I’m very proud of them,” Ogilvy said.

Team USA have been outpointed in foursomes for a second successive Presidents Cup and have been dominated on the par-threes around Medinah, with the International Team holding a 25-6 advantage on those holes.

Snedeker’s strategy and pairings have come under scrutiny, with Russell Henley and Jacob Bridgeman a winless foursomes pairing in two sessions and Wyndham Clark returning just one point from his four matches so far.

Scottie Scheffler’s torrid foursomes record for Team USA continued alongside Sam Burns, leading to him being benched on Saturday afternoon, with a frazzled Snedeker even getting muddled by his own selections during a live TV interview.

“I tried to work my tail off to put these guys in the best situation possible and I don’t think I’ve done a very good job this week, to be where we are right now,” Snedeker admitted in his press conference.

“They [Team USA] look to me to put them in the best position where they’re comfortable. I hold myself to a high standard – I don’t think I’ve done the best job for them in that room.

“They’ve given me everything I could possibly ask for and I’ve just got to figure out ways to get these guys in better situations. I don’t think I’ve held up my end of the bargain. The guys have done everything I’ve asked of them so far.”

Another Medinah upset ahead?

It would be somewhat fitting if the Internationals could close out an elusive away victory on Sunday at Medinah, 14 years on from Team Europe producing their own unlikely success over Team USA at the same venue.

Europe’s comeback from 10-4 down to win 14.5-13.5 in 2012 was miraculous enough for it to be the ‘Miracle at Medinah’, although their pre-tournament hopes had been far stronger that week than what was expected from the International Team here.

There are still 40 per cent of the week’s points on offer to be won on the final day, meaning the narrative can quickly change, while the Internationals have failed to reach five points in singles at two of the last three Presidents Cups.

Three points is a far friendlier deficit to overcome than the United States faced at last year’s Ryder Cup, where they briefly threatened to come back from seven behind before Europe eventually survived their scare to win 15-13.

Team USA picked up 8.5 points in singles that day and require another big return on Sunday, with 7.5 points needed simply to retain the trophy and eight points for outright victory.

“I like the spot we’re in better than we were last year,” said Cameron Young, who will lead out Team USA like he did 12 months ago. “A lot of the feelings are the same. These team events bring out a different side of all of us and a different side of golf.”

Justin Thomas and Scheffler have also been sent out in early matches, while Ogilvy has resisted the urge to top-load his side by putting many of his star players in the anchor ties.

Team USA appeared to have the pre-tournament edge in world rankings, PGA Tour success and squad depth, with Snedeker still hopeful his side can continue a winning run that has seen them claim 13 of the previous 15 editions.

“A lot can happen on these Sundays,” Snedeker insisted. “We’ve seen it happen a lot over the last couple of years. I think we’re going to draw on what happened last year at the Ryder Cup and how close we came to that big comeback.

“There’s plenty of evidence that these things are never over. You’ve got to show up ready to go. I think our guys are champing at the bit to get out there.”

There has been no point in history where Team USA haven’t been the defending champions in at least one of the Ryder Cup, Solheim Cup, Walker Cup or Presidents Cup.

Given their humbling Ryder Cup loss in New York last year, their Solheim Cup defeat in the Netherlands earlier this month and their Walker Cup defeat to Great Britain and Ireland, a big Sunday is required to stop the Presidents Cup also leaving their grasp.

Who will win the Presidents Cup? Watch the final day live on Sunday from 4.30pm on Sky Sports Golf. Get Sky Sports or stream golf and more with no contract.