The F1 teams and drivers lined up on the starting grid on Saturday afternoon, not for a sprint race, but for the FORMULA 1 QATAR AIRWAYS AZERBAIJAN GRAND PRIX 2026 in Baku. Despite being a street circuit, it’s one of the quickest circuits on the calendar, although it’s also home to the narrowest section of track. The race was held on a Saturday to avoid a clash with Azerbaijan’s Remembrance Day, which is observed on Sunday.
George Russell had a great start from pole position, while Charles Leclerc was a little slow off the line. Oscar Piastri immediately overtook the Ferrari around the outside of the first corner. Russell instantly started working on building a gap to the rest of the field, pulling away out front.
Red Bull looked to be the quickest in the opening laps, charging up the field. Isack Hadjar and Max Verstappen found themselves in P3 and P4 by the end of lap five, having started fourth and eighth. Verstappen overtook his teammate on lap seven, but couldn’t get past Piastri in the lead McLaren. Red Bull was considering swapping their drivers around back to the order they were, but Hadjar was happy to stay behind his teammate.
Further back, a mistake at turn five left Lando Norris vulnerable to Lewis Hamilton in the battle for P6. The reigning World Champion ran into the corner too deep, losing a lot of time, but the following corners were too narrow to launch an overtake. When the pair came to the long straight, Norris was a sitting duck against the Ferrari. Norris appeared to struggle for pace on the straights, plus the extra deployment and slipstream didn’t help.
By the end of lap 17, Kimi Antonelli had made his way into the points-scoring positions. The Italian had started the race down in P16 after crashing in Q1 on Saturday. He was looking to repeat the amazing recovery from a few weeks ago at Monza, in which he won the race from P19 after taking a power unit penalty. He was taking a much more cautious approach around the quick and narrow streets of Baku.
The race blew wide open on lap 30 when the safety car was deployed. It was for Alex Albon, who stuck his Williams into the barriers at turn six after locking up and running wide. This allowed the entire field to pit under the safety car, with medium runners swapping for the softs and vice versa. This left Russell and Verstappen on the softs, and the rest of the top five drivers on the mediums.
The race resumed five laps later, with Russell leaving the restart very late. He maintained the lead, but Piastri lost P2 after Verstappen made a brave move on the inside of the McLaren in the first corner. But safety cars breed more safety cars, and the race was neutralized once again.
Franco Colapinto locked up in the first corner from a long way back, slamming into the side of his teammate and collecting Norris in the process. This undid what was looking like a pretty strong race for the Alpine team. But the Alpine drivers were not the only teammates to collide. Liam Lawson was spun by Arvid Lindblad, also in the first corner, in an unrelated incident.
The race resumed on lap 39. This time, Russell launched earlier down the main straight. Piastri was again under threat from another Red Bull behind, as Hadjar was looking to make a move down the main straight. The Australian managed to defend the position into the first corner.
His race came undone on the following lap, as he locked up into the first corner and had to use the runoff area to turn around. He rejoined in P14. He was not the only McLaren to fall victim to this corner. Norris had also locked up at the same corner while running P7 only moments before the first safety car. That mistake had cost him two positions.
Back at the front, Russell’s huge lead had been reduced by the safety car, putting him within striking distance of Verstappen behind. Both drivers pushed hard in the closing laps. Verstappen brushed the barrier at one point, showing just how much he was giving to try and get the race victory. Some extra drama was added on the final lap when Valtteri Bottas crashed into the barriers at turn 16.
Race control opted not to deploy a virtual safety car, despite the leaders approaching. As the leaders slowed for the incident, this set up a final drag race down the long main straight to the line. It was a close fight, but Russell kept the lead by just under two tenths of a second, creating the closest race finish in F1 since 2002.
Verstappen had to settle for P2, standing alongside teammate Hadjar on the podium for Red Bull’s first double podium since 2024. Charles Leclerc finished in P4 while Antonelli rounded out the top five, not quite having the race recovery he had hoped for, but impressing nonetheless.
The Azerbaijan Grand Prix marks the start of an unexpected triple header that will end in Singapore. Next on the calendar, Malaysia makes a temporary return to Formula One, holding a race under the Bahrain Grand Prix banner, with that race having been cancelled. The racing action resumes on the weekend of October 4.
| Pos. | Driver | Laps | Time | Points | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 51 | 1:38:02.143 | 25 |  | |
| 2 | 51 | +0.196 | 18 | ||
| 3 | 51 | +10.704 | 15 | ||
| 4 | 51 | +14.136 | 12 | ||
| 5 | 51 | +14.512 | 10 | ||
| 6 | 51 | +22.382 | 8 | ||
| 7 | 51 | +31.159 | 6 | ||
| 8 | 51 | +31.189 | 4 | ||
| 9 | 51 | +31.929 | 2 | ||
| 10 | 51 | +32.416 | 1 | ||
| 11 | 51 | +33.231 | |||
| 12 | 51 | +34.013 | |||
| 13 | 51 | +34.230 | |||
| 14 | 51 | +36.401 | |||
| 15 | 51 | +41.400 | |||
| DNF | 49 | ||||
| DNF | 36 | ||||
| DNF | 35 | ||||
| DNF | 35 | ||||
| DNF | 29 | ||||
| DNF | 20 | ||||
| DNF | 7 |
| 1 | K. Antonelli | 302 |  | |
| 2 | G. Russell | 236 | -66 | |
| 3 | L. Hamilton | 199 | -103 | |
| 4 | L. Norris | 186 | -116 | |
| 5 | C. Leclerc | 179 | -123 | |
| 1 | Mercedes | 538 | | |
| 2 | Ferrari | 378 | -160 | |
| 3 | McLaren | 306 | -232 | |
| 4 | Red Bull | 263 | -275 | |
| 5 | Racing Bulls | 83 | -455 | |
