2026 Azerbaijan Grand Prix

George Russell won the 2026 Azerbaijan Grand Prix at Baku City Circuit on 26 Sept 2026 for Mercedes, from pole position; Max Verstappen was second and Isack Hadjar third. Pole position: George Russell.

Russell led every one of the 51 laps. There were 2 safety-car periods (laps 30 to 36, laps 36 to 39). Russell stopped 2 times, on laps 31 and 36 (31 laps on medium, then 20 laps on soft); 15 of 22 finishers made 2 stops, and the median first stop was lap 30. The fastest lap was George Russell's, 1:44.916 on lap 49. 22 of 22 starters were classified. After the race Andrea Kimi Antonelli led the championship with 302 points, 66 ahead of George Russell, with 8 rounds left.

Date: 26 Sept 2026
Circuit: Baku City Circuit, Baku, Azerbaijan
Round: 15 of 23
Winner: George Russell (Mercedes)
Tyre compounds: C3 hard C4 medium C5 soft source
Pole position: George Russell (1:42.526)

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Race classification

Pos	No	Driver	Team	Grid	Laps	Time / status	FL	Pts
1	63	RUSGeorge Russell	Mercedes	1	51	1:38:02.143	1:44.916	25
2	3	VERMax Verstappen	Red Bull	8	51	+0.196		18
3	6	HADIsack Hadjar	Red Bull	4	51	+10.704		15
4	16	LECCharles Leclerc	Ferrari	2	51	+14.136		12
5	12	ANTAndrea Kimi Antonelli	Mercedes	16	51	+14.512		10
6	44	HAMLewis Hamilton	Ferrari	6	51	+22.382		8
7	41	LINArvid Lindblad	RB F1 Team	15	51	+31.159		6
8	31	OCOEsteban Ocon	Haas F1 Team	13^q14	51	+31.189		4
9	87	BEAOliver Bearman	Haas F1 Team	10^q11	51	+31.929		2
10	55	SAICarlos Sainz	Williams	14^q9	51	+32.416		1
11	27	HULNico Hülkenberg	Audi	18	51	+33.231		0
12	30	LAWLiam Lawson	RB F1 Team	11^q12	51	+34.013		0
13	81	PIAOscar Piastri	McLaren	3	51	+36.401		0
14	11	PERSergio Pérez	Cadillac	20	51	+41.400		0
15	5	BORGabriel Bortoleto	Audi	17	51	+44.230		0
16	77	BOTValtteri Bottas	Cadillac	19^q22	49	Accident		0
R	43	COLFranco Colapinto	Alpine F1 Team	9^q10	36	Collision damage		0
R	10	GASPierre Gasly	Alpine F1 Team	7	35	Collision		0
R	1	NORLando Norris	McLaren	5	35	Collision		0
R	23	ALBAlexander Albon	Williams	12^q13	29	Accident		0
R	14	ALOFernando Alonso	Aston Martin	21^q19	20	Water pressure		0
R	18	STRLance Stroll	Aston Martin	22^q21	7	Water pressure		0

Grid differs from qualifying for 9 drivers: Carlos Sainz qualified 9th, started 14th; Franco Colapinto qualified 10th, started 9th; Oliver Bearman qualified 11th, started 10th; Liam Lawson qualified 12th, started 11th; Alexander Albon qualified 13th, started 12th; Esteban Ocon qualified 14th, started 13th; Fernando Alonso qualified 19th, started 21st; Lance Stroll qualified 21st, started 22nd; Valtteri Bottas qualified 22nd, started 19th. The data records the positions, not the reason; such gaps come from grid penalties, car or engine changes, or pit-lane starts. The small "q" number in the Grid column is the qualifying position.

Grid "PL" means started from the pit lane. FL marks the fastest lap of the race.

Lap chart

Explained: how to read a lap chart · safety car, virtual safety car and red flags.

Position at the end of each lap, from first to last. A line that ends early is a retirement. Rings are pit stops. Shaded bands are safety-car periods. Hover or tap the chart to see every driver's position on that lap.

Race history: gap to the leader

Seconds behind the leader after each lap, from cumulative lap times. Rings are pit stops; shaded bands are safety-car periods. Drivers more than 36 seconds behind run along the bottom edge. Hover or tap for a lap.

How the race was won

Winner: George Russell: 2 stops (laps 31, 36), stints of 31 medium, 20 soft laps
2nd: Max Verstappen: 2 stops (laps 31, 36), stints of 31 medium, 20 soft laps
3rd: Isack Hadjar: 2 stops (laps 31, 36), stints of 31 soft, 20 medium laps
Finishers: no stop: 3 · 1 stop: 3 · 2 stops: 15 · 3 or more: 1
First stops: median lap 30 of 51

Pit stops

Explained: tyres, compounds and pit stops · pit stops per race since 1994.

Driver	Stops	Laps (pit-lane time)	Stints (laps; bar length is the share of the race distance)
RUSGeorge Russell	2	31 (20.7 s), 36 (15.1 s)	3120
VERMax Verstappen	2	31 (20.8 s), 36 (15.2 s)	3120
HADIsack Hadjar	2	31 (21.9 s), 36 (15.2 s)	3120
LECCharles Leclerc	2	31 (22.0 s), 36 (15.5 s)	3120
ANTAndrea Kimi Antonelli	2	30 (20.8 s), 36 (16.4 s)	3021
HAMLewis Hamilton	2	31 (22.1 s), 36 (16.5 s)	3120
LINArvid Lindblad	2	30 (22.2 s), 36 (16.0 s)	3021
OCOEsteban Ocon	2	30 (21.4 s), 36 (16.2 s)	3021
BEAOliver Bearman	2	30 (21.3 s), 36 (16.3 s)	3021
SAICarlos Sainz	3	20 (20.7 s), 30 (21.4 s), 36 (16.0 s)	201021
HULNico Hülkenberg	2	32 (20.1 s), 36 (15.3 s)	3219
LAWLiam Lawson	2	31 (21.7 s), 36 (23.7 s)	3120
PIAOscar Piastri	2	31 (20.5 s), 36 (15.1 s)	3120
PERSergio Pérez	2	30 (22.3 s), 36 (15.4 s)	3021
BORGabriel Bortoleto	2	30 (20.4 s), 36 (15.3 s)	3021
BOTValtteri Bottas	2	26 (23.0 s), 36 (15.1 s)	2623
COLFranco Colapinto	1	30 (20.7 s)	306
GASPierre Gasly	1	30 (20.7 s)	305
NORLando Norris	1	30 (20.8 s)	305
ALBAlexander Albon	0		29
ALOFernando Alonso	0		20
STRLance Stroll	0		7

Bar colours are the tyre compound of each stint: hard medium soft intermediate wet not known (the records disagree). Compounds from Pirelli's post-race pit-stop graphic (press.pirelli.com).

Pit-lane time: pit entry to pit exit. Tyre changes under a red flag are not counted.

Qualifying

Explained: how qualifying works · how often pole position wins.

Pos	Driver	Team	Q1	Q2	Q3	Gap
1	George Russell	Mercedes	1:43.615	1:43.462	1:42.526	fastest Q3
2	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	1:44.360	1:43.780	1:43.363	+0.837 Q3
3	Oscar Piastri	McLaren	1:45.014	1:43.814	1:43.364	+0.838 Q3
4	Isack Hadjar	Red Bull	1:44.161	1:43.880	1:43.500	+0.974 Q3
5	Lando Norris	McLaren	1:44.571	1:44.020	1:43.672	+1.146 Q3
6	Lewis Hamilton	Ferrari	1:44.260	1:44.037	1:43.858	+1.332 Q3
7	Pierre Gasly	Alpine F1 Team	1:44.489	1:44.106	1:44.047	+1.521 Q3
8	Max Verstappen	Red Bull	1:44.041	1:43.706	1:44.081	+1.180 Q2
9	Carlos Sainz	Williams	1:45.104	1:44.629	1:44.566	+2.040 Q3
10	Franco Colapinto	Alpine F1 Team	1:45.106	1:44.683	1:44.963	+2.157 Q2
11	Oliver Bearman	Haas F1 Team	1:45.228	1:44.775		+2.249 Q2
12	Liam Lawson	RB F1 Team	1:45.535	1:44.860		+2.334 Q2
13	Alexander Albon	Williams	1:45.031	1:45.001		+2.475 Q2
14	Esteban Ocon	Haas F1 Team	1:45.039	1:45.016		+2.490 Q2
15	Arvid Lindblad	RB F1 Team	1:45.381	1:45.106		+2.580 Q2
16	Andrea Kimi Antonelli	Mercedes	1:45.504			+2.978 Q1
17	Gabriel Bortoleto	Audi	1:45.799			+3.273 Q1
18	Nico Hülkenberg	Audi	1:45.920			+3.394 Q1
19	Fernando Alonso	Aston Martin	1:46.593			+4.067 Q1
20	Sergio Pérez	Cadillac	1:46.658			+4.132 Q1
21	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin	1:47.337			+4.811 Q1
22	Valtteri Bottas	Cadillac	1:48.290			+5.764 Q1

Gap: the driver's best time in any session (session named), in seconds behind the fastest time of qualifying. That is usually the pole time; when a session gets slower (rain, for example), an earlier session's time can be faster. The bar is full at 3 seconds; larger gaps are cut off.

Standings after this race

Explained: how points and the two championships work.

Drivers

Pos	Driver	Team	Wins	Points
1	Andrea Kimi Antonelli	Mercedes	8	302
2	George Russell	Mercedes	3	236
3	Lewis Hamilton	Ferrari	1	199
4	Lando Norris	McLaren	2	186
5	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	1	179
6	Max Verstappen	Red Bull	0	163
7	Oscar Piastri	McLaren	0	120
8	Isack Hadjar	Red Bull	0	86
9	Liam Lawson	RB F1 Team	0	59
10	Pierre Gasly	Alpine F1 Team	0	41

Constructors

Pos	Constructor	Wins	Points
1	Mercedes	11	538
2	Ferrari	2	378
3	McLaren	2	306
4	Red Bull	0	263
5	RB F1 Team	0	83
6	Alpine F1 Team	0	68
7	Haas F1 Team	0	27
8	Audi	0	17
9	Williams	0	12
10	Aston Martin	0	3

Full 2026 standings