The Azerbaijan Grand Prix 2026 had everything fans have come to expect from the streets of Baku: a dominant pole sitter, a championship leader fighting from the back, a costly Safety Car restart and a finish so close it needed a second look. George Russell took the win, but the story of the weekend went far beyond the top step of the podium.
Why the Azerbaijan Grand Prix 2026 Was Held on a Saturday
Fans had to shift their usual routine this year. For the first time in its history, the race took place on a Saturday to avoid a clash with an Azerbaijan National Day of Mourning on the Sunday. The change came following a request from the promoter and relevant government stakeholders to accommodate their Remembrance Day. That made Baku the first of two Saturday races on the 2026 calendar, along with Las Vegas.
The early finish also helped the teams. Formula 1 later slotted the Bahrain Grand Prix, relocated to Sepang, directly between Azerbaijan and Singapore, giving teams a logistically challenging stretch of three straight races, so the extra day was a welcome bonus.
Kimi Antonelli’s Difficult Weekend in Baku
Championship leader Kimi Antonelli never found his rhythm. His problems started on Thursday, when he suffered a hydraulics issue in FP1 and missed crucial track time.
Qualifying went even worse. Antonelli had just started a Q1 lap when he hit the inside concrete wall at Turn 1, damaging the front-left corner of his Mercedes and forcing him to stop on track. He wanted to bring the car back to the garage, but race engineer Peter Bonnington told him to stop because there was no chance of repairing it. His early lap was good enough to advance, but without a Q2 time he was classified 16th. The Italian did not hide from the blame, calling it a “very unnecessary” mistake.
In the race, Antonelli chose damage limitation over heroics. He was stuck behind Oliver Bearman for a long time before finally getting past on Lap 17, and late in the race he passed Lewis Hamilton for fifth place. Climbing from 16th to fifth meant he lost only 15 points to Russell.
Russell Controls the Race From Pole
Russell was in a class of his own all weekend. He took pole with a lap of 1:42.526, his fifth of the season, finishing eight tenths clear of Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc. The Briton stormed into the lead at the start and was 1.2 seconds ahead of Oscar Piastri after the opening lap. After building a 10-second lead, he briefly touched the wall at Turn 15, but the car was fine.
That comfortable gap disappeared once the Safety Car came out. Alex Albon crashed his Williams at Turn 5, and most of the field pitted under the neutralisation.
Franco Colapinto Crash Takes Out Pierre Gasly and Lando Norris
The defining moment of the midfield fight came at the restart. On the lap 36 restart, Colapinto locked up his cold front tyres on the low-grip inside line into Turn 1 and hit the side of Gasly, with Norris also collected in the incident. Both Gasly and Norris were out on the spot.
It was a painful blow for Alpine. Both of its drivers had been in the top 10, and the crash cost the team a major points haul. Colapinto accepted full responsibility, explaining that he locked up completely with cold tyres and cold brakes and apologising to Gasly, the team and Norris. The stewards were not lenient either. Colapinto received a 10-second time penalty and a five-place grid penalty for the next race in Malaysia.
Lando Norris Calls for Race Bans
Norris was already having a tough afternoon before the crash. He lost a place to Lewis Hamilton, then locked up again and dropped behind Gasly and Antonelli as he rejoined. Being taken out on top of that left the reigning world champion furious.
Speaking to Sky Sports, Norris admitted he struggled a lot and had made his own mistake, but said he simply got taken out, adding that some drivers “shouldn’t be in Formula 1, to be honest.” He went further with the written press, insisting that anyone who causes a crash like that on a restart “should have at least a one-race ban.” He also pointed to the financial cost, saying his car parts were now in the bin, and urged the FIA to be stricter. Norris declined to blame Russell for the slow restart that bunched up the field, saying the leader could do what he wanted.
It capped off a miserable day for McLaren. Piastri locked up into Turn 1 while defending against Isack Hadjar and dropped to 15th, leaving the team without points in Baku.
A Photo Finish: Russell vs Verstappen
With the field reset, Max Verstappen set about hunting down the leader. Starting from eighth, he sliced through the field to second place. In the closing laps, the gap between the two fluctuated between a few tenths and a second.
The final lap was pure drama. Valtteri Bottas crashed his Cadillac at Turn 15, and Verstappen used a huge slipstream to draw alongside Russell in an effort to snatch the win at the last moment. Russell held on. Verstappen missed his first victory of 2026 by just 0.196 seconds, although he insisted the real gap was slightly bigger. It was the closest finish since Michael Schumacher and Rubens Barrichello’s Ferrari photo finish at Indianapolis in 2002.
Verstappen still took something positive from it. He said he enjoyed the closing stages, one of the first times he had done so all year given the shortcomings of the technical regulations. Russell, meanwhile, sent a clear message to his teammate: “The pressure is all on you.”
Behind them, Hadjar finished third, giving Red Bull its first double podium since 2024, with Leclerc, Antonelli, Hamilton, Arvid Lindblad, Esteban Ocon, Bearman and Carlos Sainz completing the top ten.
Championship Standings After the Azerbaijan Grand Prix 2026
Antonelli still leads with 302 points, with Russell second on 236, leaving a 66-point gap after Baku. In the constructors’ fight, Mercedes scored 35 points and now leads Ferrari by 160.
The title is far from settled, and with Malaysia and Singapore coming up fast, the Azerbaijan Grand Prix 2026 may prove to be the weekend that put real pressure back on the championship leader.
