The win was looking comfortable for a while, as he romped away at the front in the first stint while Piastri delayed Verstappen.
But two mid-race safety cars closed up the field and left Verstappen right on Russell’s tail.
Russell could not shake him off, but he continued to be flawless. Even when slowing for a yellow flag on the final lap caused a loss of turbo boost pressure and left him vulnerable on the run to the flag.
“It’s for sure the most dominant weekend I’ve had in my career,” Russell said. “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 it would have been very easy for me to lose the faith this season.”
Mercedes have lost their early season dominance over the summer, but the Bahrain/Malaysia race will see their first big upgrade for a while.
“I’m really excited,” Russell said. “That’s going to be a good step forward.
“Our car has been working exceptionally well on the low-drag circuits. We’ve got a really efficient car, so here at Baku we’ve been exceptionally fast. But I think from next week onwards, we’re hoping to make a bigger step to the rest of the field. But nothing’s sure until we see how it pans out in reality.”
And even if Antonelli cannot be anything but still a strong favourite, the same goes for the championship.
“There’s much less pressure on me than there is on him,” Russell said. “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, you know, I feel very much I would have been able to fight.
“Now I’ve got this big deficit. It can change quick. So I’m not chasing that. I’m chasing to win every race, and what will be, will be.”