George Russell has six Azerbaijan Grand Prix starts and three podiums, and every one of those podiums has arrived since he moved to Mercedes. The two years before that produced nothing at all.
Fifty three points, a best finish of second, and one habit that is hard to ignore: he has started fifth at Baku three times and climbed onto the podium on all three occasions.
Two years of nothing, then a podium habit
Russell's first two visits came with Williams and they went the way Williams weekends went in that era. Sixteenth on the grid and fifteenth at the flag in 2019, two laps down. Fifteenth on the grid in 2021, then a gearbox failure that left him classified seventeenth. No points, and no realistic route to any.
The Mercedes move changed the shape of it straight away. He qualified fifth in 2022 and finished third, the first podium of his Azerbaijan career.
2023 is the outlier. Eleventh on the grid was his worst Saturday in a Mercedes here, and eighth at the flag for five points made it the only year with the team that he left Baku without a trophy.
Then the pattern returned. Fifth on the grid again in 2024, third again. Fifth on the grid again in 2025, and this time second, his best result at the circuit and the closest he has come to winning it.
Three starts from fifth, three podiums. At a track where the received wisdom is that you finish roughly where you start, he keeps finding two or three places that are not obviously available.
George Russell's Azerbaijan GP record year by year
Every Azerbaijan Grand Prix start, with the grid slot it came from and what it was worth.
| Season | Grid | Finish | Points | Team |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | 16 | P15 | 0 | Williams |
| 2021 | 15 | P17 | 0 | Williams |
| 2022 | 5 | P3 | 15 | Mercedes |
| 2023 | 11 | P8 | 5 | Mercedes |
| 2024 | 5 | P3 | 15 | Mercedes |
| 2025 | 5 | P2 | 18 | Mercedes |
The win is the only thing missing
All 53 of his Azerbaijan points have come in the last four years, and 48 of them in the three podium finishes. The Williams seasons contribute nothing to the total, which is a description of the machinery rather than a criticism of the driver.
Second place in 2025 is both the high-water mark and the obvious piece of unfinished business. He returns to the Baku City Circuit on 26 September sitting second in the championship for Mercedes in the W17, at a circuit that has put him on the podium in three of his last four visits. A first win here would not come as a shock.
