George Russell wins chaotic 2026 Azerbaijan Grand Prix as Antonelli retains championship lead

Russell survives late Verstappen charge for third win of 2026

George Russell won the Formula 1 Qatar Airways Azerbaijan Grand Prix at the Baku City Circuit on 26 September 2026, completing 51 laps in 1:38:02.143 with Max Verstappen of Red Bull Racing just 0.196 seconds behind at the flag. Red Bull's Isack Hadjar finished third, 10.704 seconds off the lead, to complete a double podium for the team. The result, recorded in the stewards' final race classification, was Russell's third victory of the 2026 season and his eighth career win. ⁵⁹⁶

Russell converted pole position despite two closely linked Safety Car periods that neutralised his early advantage. According to the FIA's own race report, Verstappen drew alongside the Mercedes on the run to the finish on the 51st and final lap after a yellow flag caused by Valtteri Bottas' crash, but Russell held his line to win by the narrow margin. Russell told Formula1.com afterwards: "It's amazing to be back on the top step of the podium," adding that when the yellow flag came out he lifted off and "had no turbo, so then I had no power. Max almost got me at the line." ⁶⁹

Charles Leclerc finished fourth for Ferrari ahead of Kimi Antonelli's Mercedes, with Lewis Hamilton sixth. Racing Bulls' Arvid Lindblad took seventh from Haas pair Esteban Ocon and Oliver Bearman, and Carlos Sainz claimed the final point in 10th for Williams. Formula1.com reported that both Haas drivers finished in the top 10 for the first time this season, scoring the team's first points since the Monaco Grand Prix. ⁹⁵

Qualifying: Russell's dominant pole and Antonelli's qualifying crash

Russell took pole position with a 1:42.526 in Q3, 0.837 seconds clear of Ferrari's Charles Leclerc — which Formula1.com described as the biggest pole margin of the year. Oscar Piastri qualified third for McLaren, just 0.001 seconds behind Leclerc, with Hadjar fourth, Lando Norris fifth and Hamilton sixth. Championship leader Antonelli hit the wall at Turn 1 in the opening segment of qualifying, damaging his Mercedes and ruling him out of the rest of the session; he set only five laps and classified 16th fastest. ²⁹

Grid penalties reshuffled the starting order. Formula1.com's official starting grid notes record that Fernando Alonso was penalised 30 places and Lance Stroll 20 places for the use of additional power unit elements, sending both Aston Martins to the back row. Carlos Sainz dropped five places for failing to slow for yellow flags, and Sergio Perez was penalised three places for impeding another driver, leaving him 20th. Sainz started 14th and Antonelli 16th as a result. ³

A chaotic race: retirements, Safety Cars and Piastri's late mistake

The race turned on two Safety Car periods. The first came when Alexander Albon locked up and crashed his Williams at Turn 6, allowing the leaders to pit under neutralisation, with Red Bull executing a double stack pit stop. On the restart Verstappen took second from Piastri, while Franco Colapinto locked up approaching Turn 1, collided with his Alpine team-mate Pierre Gasly, and Gasly in turn could not avoid Norris — all three retired, triggering a second Safety Car. The FIA's race report details this sequence and its effect on the closing stages. ⁶⁹

Oscar Piastri ran in the podium positions for the majority of the race but locked up into Turn 1 just after the second restart and spun, dropping to the rear of the field before recovering to finish 13th, outside the points, in the stewards' final classification after Gabriel Bortoleto's penalty had been applied. GPblog reported that the Australian lost his P3 place after the lock-up at the second Safety Car restart. The error further aided Antonelli's recovery, as RacingNews365 noted in its post-race standings analysis, with the Italian having dropped to 17th on the opening lap before climbing to fifth, passing Hamilton with eight laps remaining. ⁵¹⁰⁸⁹

The FIA's final race classification records seven drivers failing to finish: Bottas crashed into the barriers late on for Cadillac, joining Albon, Colapinto, Gasly, Norris and the two Aston Martins — Fernando Alonso retired after 20 laps and Lance Stroll after 7, with a water pressure issue among the car problems reported by Formula1.com. Bortoleto, classified 15th, received a 10-second time penalty for overtaking under yellow flags, noted on the stewards' final classification document. ⁵⁹¹

Standings after Baku: Antonelli's lead cut to 66 points

The FIA's championship points document issued after the race (stewards' Document 72, dated 26 September 2026) lists Kimi Antonelli as championship leader on 302 points, with George Russell second on 236, Lewis Hamilton third on 199, Lando Norris fourth on 186, Charles Leclerc fifth on 179, Max Verstappen sixth on 163 and Oscar Piastri seventh on 120. Isack Hadjar sits eighth on 86, Liam Lawson ninth on 59 and Pierre Gasly 10th on 41. Crash.net's post-race standings recorded that Antonelli arrived in Baku with an 81-point lead over Russell, meaning the gap was reduced by 15 points over the weekend. ⁴⁷

In the constructors' championship, the same FIA document lists Mercedes-AMG Petronas first on 538 points, Scuderia Ferrari HP second on 378, McLaren Mastercard third on 306, Oracle Red Bull Racing fourth on 263, Visa Cash App Racing Bulls fifth on 83 and BWT Alpine sixth on 68, ahead of TGR Haas on 27, Audi Revolut on 17, Atlassian Williams on 12, Aston Martin Aramco on 3 and Cadillac on zero. GPblog reported that Mercedes maintained a comfortable lead over Ferrari in the constructors' fight, with 11 wins from the opening rounds of the season. ⁴¹⁰⁷

The FIA points document carries a note that the classification was subject to a notice of intention to appeal by the Audi Revolut F1 Team against a stewards' decision from the Italian Grand Prix, a separate matter recorded contemporaneously rather than any change to the Baku result itself. RacingNews365 also noted that Alpine missed the opportunity to close to within four points of Racing Bulls in the battle for fifth in the constructors' standings, while McLaren going scoreless strengthened Ferrari's hold on second. ⁴⁸

What followed

Formula 1's own race weekend report noted that the Azerbaijan Grand Prix formed part of a triple header, with the next round scheduled at Sepang in Malaysia for October 2–4 under the Bahrain Grand Prix banner. No standings beyond the 26 September FIA classification are recorded here, as this report reflects the championship position at the conclusion of the Baku weekend only. ⁹⁴