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“I was pretty glad when I saw the chequered flag, to be honest. I was fortunate — I felt much better today than I felt on Friday and Saturday,” Russell said.

“Fortunately, it was Baku. Even though it’s one of the toughest circuits, mentally and physically it’s maybe one of the easiest.

“Had it been Singapore, as an example, I think I probably would have called it a day on Friday, to be honest, and probably wouldn’t have done the race.”

A second crash of the weekend for Piastri ended his 34-race streak of finishing a Grand Prix within five corners and threw the door wide open for McLaren team-mate Norris to make major inroads into his championship lead.

But Norris started sluggishly and overtaking was at a premium during the 51-lap on Baku’s windy streets, meaning he could only take six points out of Piastri’s title lead, which stands at 25 with seven rounds remaining.

Pole-sitter Max Verstappen breezed to a commanding lights-to-flag victory, blasting away from the line and winning by 14 seconds to claim successive victories and close within 69 points of Piastri.

1. McLaren – 623 points

2. Mercedes – 290 points

3. Ferrari – 286 points

4. Red Bull – 272 points

5. Williams – 101 points

6. Racing Bulls – 72 points

7. Aston Martin – 62 points

8. Sauber – 55 points

9. Haas – 44 points

10. Alpine – 20 points

Lewis Hamilton admits he “does not think” Ferrari have the pace to compete for a podium in the remaining seven races of the season.

The 40-year-old is still without a top-three finish after 16 rounds this season with his best result in a grand prix being fourth, alongside a sprint race victory in China back in March.

“We don’t have the pace of Red Bull, they were rapid, or McLaren, and currently we’re fourth.

“A podium here or there? There’s a chance to have that at some point. But in terms of pure pace, we don’t have that.”

“Excuse me?” I ask, slightly perplexed at the informality of the scene ahead. “I’ve got an interview with Alex…”

At the far end of the Rodin Motorsport truck, which houses a few tables, a dozen personnel poring over data on laptops and a built-in racing simulator, an Irish teenager pops his head out, next to the makeshift cockpit.

“Hi… yep let’s do it.” And so, Alex Dunne leads me into a brightly lit meeting room opposite and closes the doors.

F1 fans have been handed a bonus ahead of this week’s ticket sale for the 2026 British Grand Prix with the news that Silverstone will host a sprint race for the first time in five years.

The iconic circuit in Northamptonshire hosted the first-ever F1 sprint race back in 2021, won by Max Verstappen, but has not hosted the shortened format – which results in four competitive sessions across the weekend and just one hour of practice – in the years that have followed.

Gernot Dollner, who became Audi CEO in September 2023, wasn’t the man who made the decision in 2022 to join F1. In fact, he wasn’t in favour of the move, as he admits in an exclusive interview with The Independent.

“Yeah, you are right. In my role as head of strategy of Volkswagen Group, I was quite sceptical regarding looking at Formula One,” said Dollner.

Max Verstappen has raised the prospect of competing at next year’s 24 Hours of Nurburgring event after obtaining the required licence to race at the famous German track.

The four-time F1 world champion, who has expanded his sim-racing team this year with an eye on competing in GT3 endurance racing, recently completed a convoluted process to obtain the DMSB Nordschleife A permit.