Round 15 of the 2026 F1 season has been completed at the Azerbaijan GP, view the full race report here.
Mercedes driver George Russell started on pole position as he took P1 by over 0.8s in qualifying on Saturday. Points leader Kimi Antonelli crashed in Q1, leaving him down in 16th on the grid. It opened the door for Charles Leclerc to join the Brit on the front row. Oscar Piastri completed the top 3.
Isack Hadjar was P4 on his return, with Lando Norris (P5) and Max Verstappen (P8) limited by a lack of power in qualifying. Lewis Hamilton and Pierre Gasly were in between them.
A grid penalty for Carlos Sainz dropped him to 14th after he had done a great job to qualify 9th. Franco Colapinto, Ollie Bearman, Liam Lawson, Alex Albon and Esteban Ocon all moved up a spot.
The 2026 F1 Azerbaijan GP race is underway
Both McLaren drivers got away superbly, jumping Leclerc and Hadjar for P2 and P4. Max Verstappen also overtook Gasly for 7th.
Liam Lawson cleared Bearman to move into 10th. Russell, Piastri, Leclerc, Norris, Hadjar, Hamilton, Verstappen, Gasly, Colapinto and Lawson was the the top 10 at the end of the first lap. Kimi Antonelli dropped a spot to 17th as Nico Hülkenberg made up three spots.
On lap 2, Max Verstappen overtook Lewis Hamilton into turn 3 for P6. Red Bull continued to be rapid on the straights as Hadjar and the Dutchman passed Norris into turns 1 and 3 at the start of the third lap.
A lap later, the Frenchman and the driver of car #3 breeze by Charles Leclerc to move into 3rd and 4th.
Further down, Kimi Antonelli started to make progress. He overtook Hülkenberg, Sainz and Lindblad to be P14 by lap 6. For P10, Ollie Bearman got back in front of Liam Lawson.
At the start of lap 7, Max Verstappen and Isack Hadjar swapped positions as they pursued Oscar Piastri for 2nd.
On lap 8, Lance Stroll pulled off at turn 15 and retired. 12 laps later, Alonso pitted to retire.
Down into turn 5, Lando Norris locked-up, going massively deep. Although Lewis Hamilton did not get by instantly, he was close enough to make a very easy pass on the home straight.
The slow progress of Kimi Antonelli continued as he had overtaken Ocon, Albon, Lawson and Bearman to be 10th on lap 17. He then easily passed Colapinto at the beginning of lap 23 for 9th.
The yellow flags appeared for a couple of seconds on lap 30 as Lando Norris had a massive lock-up into turn 1. He had to go straight on and lost positions to Gasly and Antonelli.
Albon crashes out of 2026 F1 Azerbaijan GP race
However, there was a bigger moment to come a minute later. Alex Albon crashed at turn 5 as he locked up and found the tyre barrier. The Safety Car was deployed.
Russell, Piastri, Verstappen, Hadjar, Leclerc, Hamilton, Gasly, Antonelli, Norris and Colapinto was the top 10 as almost everyone pitted. The Mercedes and Alpine drivers went so softs, along with Verstappen and Norris. Meanwhile, Piastri, Hadjar and the Ferraris had to switch to the slower medium tyre.
Green flag but another Safety Car immediately
The 2026 F1 Azerbaijan GP race got going again on lap 36.
George Russell got a lovely restart as he went pretty close to the line. Utter chaos ensued behind. Verstappen cleared Piastri for P2 cleanly, while the rest of the top 6 stayed the same.
Behind them, Franco Colapinto got it all wrong. He locked up massively into turn 1 and took out both his teammate Pierre Gasly and Lando Norris. All three drivers retired. Esteban Ocon passed Ollie Bearman into turn 2 before the Safety Car was deployed for P8.
Arvid Lindblad moved up to 10th but he spun Liam Lawson around in a separate incident at turn 1.
Race resumes again on lap 39
This restart was far cleaner as the top 10 all stayed in the same spots.
However, at the beginning of lap 40, Oscar Piastri was forced to defend into turn 1 and had a massive lock-up, ending up in the run-off and dropping to 15th.
Despite a valiant effort, Lewis Hamilton ultimately could not resist Kimi Antonelli as the Italian cleared him at the beginning of lap 43.
After escaping a penalty, Arvid Lindblad made a brave move on Ollie Bearman into turn 3 for 8th. Meanwhile, Carlos Sainz cleared Nico Hülkenberg at the start of lap 49 to move into 10th.
Russell wins in Baku
Under relentless pressure, George Russell fended off Max Verstappen to take a superb victory. He had a scare on the last lap as Valtteri Bottas crashed in turn 15. He lost boost slowing for the yellow flags but just held on for the win.
Red Bull had a brilliant day as Isack Hadjar backed up his teammate with an outstanding P3.
Leclerc, Antonelli, Hamilton, Lindblad, Ocon, Bearman and Sainz completed the top 10. Right at the end, the Brit cleared the Haas driver for 7th, giving Racing Bulls six vital points.
