2026 Azerbaijan GP: Russell narrowly holds off Verstappen

George Russell has won the 2026 Azerbaijan GP without giving up the lead for a single lap. The Mercedes driver started from pole, survived two Safety Car periods and held on to finish narrowly ahead of Max Verstappen. Verstappen had climbed from grid position 8 to second. Isack Hadjar completed a double podium for Red Bull.

The race was decided in the chaotic phase between laps 31 and 39. During that spell, a crash at Turn 1 took out Lando Norris and both Alpines, and McLaren ultimately went home without points. You can relive every position, stop and Safety Car period in 3D on our 2026 Azerbaijan GP race page.

Conditions at the Baku City Circuit were dry, with air temperatures of 26 to 26.6 degrees and up to 48.1 degrees on the track surface. Russell got away cleanly and kept the lead. Behind him, according to formula1.com, Oscar Piastri moved past Charles Leclerc into second. Verstappen gained places right away against Pierre Gasly and Lewis Hamilton. Andrea Kimi Antonelli, who had gone off at Turn 1 in qualifying, had to start from 16th and even lost another position in the opening phase.

After that, things stayed quiet at the front for a long time. Before the stops on lap 31, the order was Russell, Piastri, Verstappen, Hadjar, Leclerc and Hamilton. Then Alexander Albon locked up and hit the barrier in his Williams. The first Safety Car was deployed from lap 31 to 36 so that his car could be recovered.

At the restart came the big crash at Turn 1. Franco Colapinto locked up and hit his Alpine teammate Gasly. Gasly could no longer avoid Norris, and all three cars were out of the race. The debris led to the second Safety Car period from lap 36 to 39. As the race got going again, Verstappen passed Piastri for second.

It got even worse for Piastri: after the final restart he locked up at Turn 1 under pressure from Hadjar and dropped out of the points. Antonelli, meanwhile, kept fighting his way forward and took Hamilton eight laps from the end. Verstappen kept Russell under pressure right to the finish and pulled alongside him on the final straight, but couldn't get by. Russell also set the fastest lap of the race. Late on, Valtteri Bottas brought out yellow flags with a crash at Turn 15. Afterwards Russell talked about how it felt to be back at the top: “It's amazing to be back on the top step of the podium.” (formula1.com)

Seven drivers didn't see the chequered flag. Bottas was still classified:

• Lance Stroll (Aston Martin), after lap 7: the team told him to stop the car because of a water pressure problem.
• Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin), after lap 20: according to formula1.com, he retired with a separate technical failure of his own. That made it a double retirement for Aston Martin.
• Alexander Albon (Williams), after lap 29: he locked up and hit the barrier, which brought out the first Safety Car.
• Lando Norris (McLaren) and Pierre Gasly (Alpine), both after lap 35, and Franco Colapinto (Alpine), after lap 36: collision at Turn 1 at the restart.
• Valtteri Bottas (Cadillac F1 Team), after lap 49: crash at Turn 15. Because he had completed 49 laps, he was classified 16th.

It was a particularly bitter afternoon for Alpine. Gasly had gained a place during his stop on lap 30 and was running 7th three laps later. Colapinto was in 10th. Both lost their points positions to their own teammate, Colapinto by causing the crash and Gasly by being caught up in it.

The stewards handed Colapinto a 10-second time penalty for causing the collision at Turn 1. Gasly and Norris escaped without penalty. Contact between Arvid Lindblad and Liam Lawson, also at Turn 1, had no further consequences. A possible breach of the race director's instructions by Verstappen was also looked at, but there was no further investigation.

Some cases remain open for now. Hadjar and Carlos Sainz are to be investigated after the race for an infringement during the practice start. The same goes for Gabriel Bortoleto, who allegedly ignored yellow flags at Turn 7, and for Bottas's crash at Turn 15. Norris had also already had a lap time deleted on lap 30 for exceeding track limits at Turn 1.

The two Safety Car periods threw every strategy plan out of the window. The leaders pitted under the Safety Car on lap 31. On lap 36, almost the entire field went through the pit lane again behind the second Safety Car, but without stopping. For Russell, it worked out perfectly. He was in P1 before his stop and still there three laps later. His time in the pit lane was 20.6 seconds, while Verstappen needed 20.8 seconds.

The tyre choices were revealing. Russell and Verstappen started on mediums and finished on softs. Both had been given a new set at their stop on lap 31. Hadjar, Leclerc, Hamilton and Piastri started on softs and finished the race on mediums. In the end, the two drivers on softs were right at the front. Antonelli, on softs, overtook Hamilton, who was on mediums. So the softer compound seemed to have the edge in the final stint.

Antonelli and a large part of the midfield had already pitted on lap 30, one lap before the Safety Car. It didn't hurt them: Antonelli went from 9th to 8th in the process. The early stop paid off in the midfield too. Esteban Ocon moved from 14th to 13th on fresh mediums and finished 8th, while Lindblad went from 15th to 14th and ended up seventh. Sainz stopped twice, on lap 20 and lap 30. He was 18th before his first stop and finished 10th. However, some of these gains came from the three cars that retired after the crash at Turn 1.

Lawson was less fortunate. He was the only driver to actually stop again on lap 36, switching from mediums to softs. He spent 23.6 seconds in the pit lane, while everyone else only drove through. He dropped from 12th to 14th and eventually finished 12th.

Winners:

• Andrea Kimi Antonelli: He gained 11 places, from grid position 16 to 5th, and picked up 10 points despite his qualifying mistake.
• Max Verstappen: He went from 8th to 2nd (plus 6). Together with Hadjar's 3rd place, that earned Red Bull 33 points.
• Arvid Lindblad: For the RB F1 Team, he went from 15th on the grid to 7th (plus 8).
• Nico Hülkenberg: He gained 7 places in his Audi and only just missed out on points in 11th.
• Haas F1 Team: Ocon (plus 5) and Oliver Bearman (plus 1) scored 6 points between them in 8th and 9th.
• Sergio Pérez: He went from 20th to 14th, but Cadillac are still without points.

Losers:

• McLaren: Norris retired, and Piastri slumped from 3rd on the grid to 13th (minus 10). The team scored zero points.
• Alpine: Both cars retired after the collision between the teammates. On top of that, Colapinto picked up the time penalty.
• Aston Martin: Both cars retired with technical problems.
• Charles Leclerc: He started second and finished fourth. With Hamilton in 6th, Ferrari scored 20 points, which is too little for a team that started from the front row.

With his win, Russell reduced the gap to his teammate. Antonelli leads the drivers' championship with 302 points. Russell is next on 236 points, 66 behind. They are followed by Hamilton (199), Norris (186), Leclerc (179) and Verstappen (163). Norris came away empty-handed, so he couldn't extend his lead in fourth place. After scoring 18 points, Verstappen is now only 16 behind Leclerc.

In the constructors' championship, Mercedes extended their lead and now have 538 points, ahead of Ferrari (378), McLaren (306) and Red Bull (263). Further back, Haas now have 27 points, while Cadillac are still on zero.