Azerbaijan Grand Prix 2026: Russell Wins in Baku, Results and Standings
George Russell (Mercedes) won the 2026 Azerbaijan Grand Prix from pole on Saturday September 26, holding off Max Verstappen by 0.196 seconds after two safety car periods, with Isack Hadjar third for Red Bull's first double podium since April 2024. Championship leader Kimi Antonelli crashed in qualifying, started 16th and recovered to fifth, so his lead over Russell fell from 81 to 66 points (302 to 236). Lando Norris was taken out at a restart, and McLaren left Baku without a point. Mercedes lead the constructors on 538. Next is the Bahrain Grand Prix, relocated to Sepang in Malaysia, on October 2 to 4. Sources: Formula1.com, RacingNews365, The Race, ESPN.
The context
Russell wins a chaotic first Saturday race in Baku
George Russell won the 2026 Azerbaijan Grand Prix on Saturday September 26, converting pole position into his third victory of the season. He had taken pole by 0.837 seconds from Charles Leclerc, led away cleanly, then had to survive two safety car restarts and a late charge from Max Verstappen, who finished only 0.196 seconds behind after starting eighth. Isack Hadjar made it a Red Bull double podium, the team’s first since April 2024, ahead of Leclerc, Kimi Antonelli and Lewis Hamilton.
The race turned on its incidents. Alexander Albon crashed on lap 9 to bring out the first safety car, and at a later restart Franco Colapinto locked up into turn 1, hit teammate Pierre Gasly and collected Lando Norris, who had climbed to fifth: all three were out. With Oscar Piastri only 13th, McLaren left Baku with nothing, and both Aston Martins and both Alpines failed to finish. Championship leader Antonelli, who had clipped the wall at turn 1 in qualifying and started 16th, recovered to fifth, which limited the damage: his lead over Russell is now 66 points (302 to 236) with eight rounds to go. Mercedes lead the constructors on 538, from Ferrari (378), McLaren (306) and Red Bull (263). Next is the Bahrain Grand Prix, relocated to Sepang in Malaysia, on October 2 to 4.
Baku races on a Saturday, for the first time in its history
Formula 1 returned to the Baku City Circuit on September 24 to 26, 2026, and the schedule is the first thing to know: the grand prix was on Saturday, not Sunday. The race had originally been placed on Sunday September 27, which is Azerbaijan’s Remembrance Day, the national day of mourning for those killed in the 44-day Nagorno-Karabakh conflict of 2020. Rather than run a motor race through it, the promoter and Formula 1 moved the entire weekend forward by 24 hours. Practice runs on Thursday (12:30 and 16:00 local), practice 3 and qualifying on Friday (12:30 and 16:00 local), and the race on Saturday at 15:00 local, which is 13:00 CEST, 12:00 BST and 7 a.m. ET.
The circuit itself has not changed, and it remains one of the strangest on the calendar. 6.003 km, 20 corners, anti-clockwise, 51 laps. The lap contains a stretch of roughly 2.2 km at full throttle along the Caspian seafront, and it also contains the passage through the old town between turns 8 and 12, where the track narrows to about seven and a half metres between medieval castle walls. No other venue asks a team to set up a car for both of those things in the same afternoon. The traditional Baku compromise is to run low downforce, live with a nervous car through the castle section, and hope the straight-line speed pays for it.
What is genuinely new is what happens on that straight. DRS no longer exists. The 2026 regulations replaced it with active aerodynamics, where cars move between a high-downforce corner mode and a low-drag straightline mode, plus an Overtake Mode energy boost for a car within a second of the one ahead, on top of a power unit that has dropped the MGU-H and pushed the MGU-K from 160 to 470 bhp. Energy deployment and recovery over a two-kilometre full-throttle run is precisely the scenario engineers have worried about all year, and Baku is where the theory meets a wall. Pirelli has gone one step harder than in 2025, with the C3, C4 and C5, and expected a one-stop race on a smooth surface. The forecast was dry, 20 to 26°C on race day, but gusty, which on that straight is not a detail.
The championship context going in was lopsided. Kimi Antonelli had won in Madrid on September 13 and arrived on 292 points, 81 clear of teammate George Russell (211), with Lewis Hamilton on 191 and Lando Norris on 186. Mercedes led the constructors’ table on 503 against Ferrari’s 358 and McLaren’s 306. Baku could not decide the title: even a perfect weekend would have left Antonelli at most 106 points ahead with eight grands prix to run. The defending winner was Max Verstappen, who scored a grand slam here in 2025, and Baku lived up to its reputation as the circuit least inclined to respect a strong position.
Sources: Formula1.com, Pirelli, Motorsport.com, RaceFans, RacingNews365, The Race, ESPN, Oversteer48, Wikipedia.
People also ask
True or false?
September 26 at 15:00 local, moved off Sunday to avoid the national day of mourning on the 27th. (Motorsport.com)
It was moved to avoid Azerbaijan's Remembrance Day for the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. (Motorsport.com, RaceFans)
It was removed for the new regulations and replaced by active aero and Overtake Mode. (Formula1.com)
The old town passage around turns 8 to 12 pinches to roughly seven and a half metres between castle walls. (Formula1.com)
He led by 81 points with eight grands prix still to follow; he finished fifth and the lead fell to 66. (RacingNews365)
Pole by 0.837s, then victory by 0.196s over Verstappen after two safety car periods. (Formula1.com)
He started 16th after a qualifying crash and finished fifth, behind Leclerc. (Formula1.com)
The Bahrain Grand Prix of October 2 to 4 has been relocated to Sepang, Malaysia. (Formula1.com)