International media enjoyed the 'Verstappen show': 'He and Hadjar were like hungry dogs'

Due to Valtteri Bottas's late crash, it turned into a drag race to the line, during which Mercedes also had a brief moment of panic. Russell lost his boost at that moment and Verstappen almost caught him. At the line, the gap was just 0.196s.

In Italy, the nail-biting finale is front and center the day after the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. “George wins the final sprint after a nail-biting duel with Verstappen,” La Gazzetta dello Sport wrote.

The newspaper emphasizes how little separated them at the finish: “One hundred and ninety-six thousandths. Less than two tenths, hardly anything. Yet it was enough to hand Russell the finest win of his season.

“With a final sprint, hounded to the very last lap by an excellent Max Verstappen, the Briton from Mercedes claimed victory in Azerbaijan,” the Italian newspaper continues. Russell initially had the race firmly under control, but after two Safety Car periods, Verstappen managed to keep up with him

According to La Gazzetta, Verstappen did everything to put Russell under pressure. “For ten laps he stayed almost constantly within a second. He tried in every possible way to get closer to his British opponent for a decisive overtake that would crown his charge from eighth on the grid with a win.”

That victory didn’t come, but the Italians saw Verstappen being inspired by this result. “His satisfied smile made it clear that his team’s hope for the rest of the season is growing.”

His five podiums in six races underline “the extensive work of a team that started this season with a big deficit but is beginning to find its way again.”

Spain’s AS also chose the dramatic final moments of the race as its headline “Two tenths in the chaos.”

Discussing the battle between Verstappen and Russell, they wrote: “You can’t say the race was even. The Mercedes pulled a gap and Max had to come through from eighth. After the final safety car he clung to his rival as best he could, but he didn’t even get a real chance to overtake. On the straights he closed in, in the corners Russell pulled away again.”

Even so, the Mercedes driver could only breathe a sigh of relief at the finish. The late yellow flag caused by Bottas's crash brought Verstappen even closer to his first win of the season. “With the final yellow for Bottas he took a big bite out of the gap. That brought him close to his first victory of the year, when everything had seemed lost. But it was not to be: Russell escaped and took his third win of 2026, ahead of Red Bull’s two hungry dogs.”

BILD highlighted the communication between the Red Bull drivers. “Overtaking chaos around Verstappen and huge crashes!” their headline reads.

The paper describes how Hadjar first let his teammate through, but later on his soft tyres had more pace than Verstappen on mediums. “The pit wall offers him the chance to pass the Dutchman. Hadjar declines. It’s the start of overtaking chaos within the team,” writes BILD.

The radio messages are then laid out in succession: “A few minutes later Verstappen calls: ‘The tyres are just not good!’ Hadjar then reports about Verstappen to the Red Bull pit wall: ‘Tell him to keep his foot down!’”

The Frenchman later revisited the possibility of a position swap, asking whether he could overtake his teammate. He was told he could go for it, but needed to keep it clean. After the Safety Car, Hadjar also asked for Verstappen's help if he could not fight for the victory himself. In the end, the race delivered a double podium for Red Bull Racing.

The Independent praised the Mercedes driver for bouncing back after his deficit to Antonelli had grown to 81 points following the previous weekend in Madrid.