George Russell dominated the Azerbaijan Grand Prix weekend, securing pole position and winning the race at the Baku City Circuit. The performance has prompted speculation from F1 pundit James Hinchcliffe, who suggested that the British driver may have "cracked the code" to gain a significant advantage over his Mercedes team-mate, Kimi Antonelli.
Antonelli, who currently leads the drivers' championship, endured a difficult weekend in Baku, crashing during the qualifying session. After starting 16th on the grid, he finished the race in fifth position, earning 10 points. Following his victory, Russell successfully reduced Antonelli's championship lead to 66 points.
Speaking on the F1 Nation podcast, Hinchcliffe noted that Antonelli lacked Russell's pace throughout the entire weekend. While acknowledging that Antonelli missed some time during the first practice session, the former IndyCar driver emphasized that the rookie had ample time in FP2 and FP3 to get up to speed. Hinchcliffe expressed curiosity over whether Russell has figured out how to extract a new level of performance from the car that has consistently eluded him in head-to-head race pace against his team-mate previously. He noted that the upcoming races in Malaysia and Singapore will be pivotal in determining if Russell has truly turned a corner.
