George Russell topped FP1 at the 2026 F1 Azerbaijan GP, leading Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc in the opening session around the Baku City Circuit.
The one-hour session began on a dusty and slippery track, with drivers quickly reporting issues as they built confidence on the street circuit. Isack Hadjar complained about brake problems on his Red Bull, while Oscar Piastri reported vibrations in the early minutes.
Carlos Sainz also hit trouble after just 15 minutes, returning to the Williams garage with rear brake issues. The Spaniard’s car had fire around the rear brakes as he came back into the pit lane, forcing Williams into early checks on a heavily updated car.
Antonelli stops with hydraulic issue
Kimi Antonelli briefly moved to the top of the timing sheets on the hard tyre, setting a 1:46.265 as track conditions improved.
However, the Mercedes driver’s session soon came to an early end. After switching to soft tyres, Antonelli stopped at Turn 7 on his out-lap and reported a hydraulic issue over the radio. Race Control deployed the Virtual Safety Car while marshals recovered his car.
The yellow flags returned shortly afterwards when Max Verstappen and Russell both went into the run-off areas at Turn 1 and Turn 3 respectively. Both drivers managed to rejoin and continued their programmes.
Russell takes over at the top
Verstappen became the first driver to dip below the 1:46 mark, setting a 1:45.787 on soft tyres.
Russell then beat that time with a 1:45.387, using a tow down the main straight to move four tenths clear of Verstappen. Charles Leclerc ended the session third for Ferrari, just 0.004s behind Verstappen, while teammate Lewis Hamilton finished fourth.
Antonelli remained fifth despite missing the second half of the session, with Oscar Piastri sixth after McLaren also lost time working on his car.
Late VSC disrupts final runs
A second Virtual Safety Car interrupted the final minutes after Arvid Lindblad became stuck in the Turn 7 run-off area. At the same time, Nico Hülkenberg stopped his Audi at the exit of Turn 4, adding another disruption to the closing stages.
Russell’s time remained unbeaten at the chequered flag, leaving Mercedes fastest in FP1. Verstappen finished second ahead of Leclerc, Hamilton and Antonelli, while Piastri, Liam Lawson, Arvid Lindblad, Esteban Ocon and Gabriel Bortoleto completed the top ten.
F1 2026 Azerbaijan GP FP1 results
