BAKU, Sept 26 (Reuters) - ⁠Formula One championship leader Kimi Antonelli called the Azerbaijan Grand ⁠Prix weekend the worst of his season after recovering to finish ‌fifth in Saturday’s race following a costly qualifying crash that left him starting 16th on the grid.

A troubled weekend for Antonelli, that began with a hydraulics problem in Thursday ​practice, put a blot on an otherwise flawless ⁠season for the 20-year-old Italian.

It ⁠coincided with a dominant weekend for Mercedes teammate George Russell who took his ⁠third ‌win of the season and narrowed the gap at the top of the standings from 81 to 66 points.

“Obviously, it was ⁠the worst weekend by far of the season,” said ​Antonelli, winner of ‌eight races this year, who went into the Azerbaijan weekend gunning ⁠for a third ​successive triumph.

“I felt always a step behind and especially with the mistake in qualifying, the confidence level was not high.”

Antonelli’s drive on Saturday could not have ⁠been more different than his 19th-to-first charge through ​the field in his home Italian Grand Prix earlier this month.

His Baku comeback was instead more of a slow-burn recovery.

Antonelli, who was hobbled by contact with ⁠a Haas car, said he had driven a race of damage limitation.

He would bounce back next weekend in Malaysia, he added.

“I think this weekend taught me a lot,” said Antonelli, who is on course to become the ​first Italian to win the Formula One title ⁠since Alberto Ascari in 1953.

“I think in many occasions this weekend… I ​don’t know, probably also with the mindset, I ‌was not in the best pace.

“I’ll just ​make sure that next weekend we get back at the right level.”

(Reporting by Abhishek Takle in Baku; editing by Clare Fallon)