F1 Azerbaijan Grand Prix 2026 recap

F1 Azerbaijan Grand Prix 2026 recap: Russell beats Verstappen by the skin of his teeth to win Azerbaijan Grand Prix

Mercedes’ George Russell converted his pole position to a victory in the streets of Baku to win the Azerbaijan Grand Prix 2026. Russell’s win though wasn’t an easy one as he just about managed to keep Max Verstappen at bay to win the race, eventually winning by only one-tenth of a second as Verstappen made sure to push Russell all the way, right to the very end. Red Bull walked away from Baku with a double podium as they showed incredible pace with Isack Hadjar finishing P3 on his return from injury.

Russell and Verstappen’s 0.1s difference was the closest finish to a race since the 2002 race in Indianapolis as Russell picked up his third win of the season. Russell’s teammate, Kimi Antonelli, whose horror qualifying saw him start P16, had a stellar recovery drive, finishing P5 while McLaren had a weekend to forget as Lando Norris crashed out while Oscar Piastri’s late error saw him finish out of the points.

George Russell held on to pole, seeing off Charles Leclerc and it was Oscar Piastri moving to P2 right at the start, going around Leclerc into Turn 1. Lando Norris behind them picked up a place, going past Isack Hadjar to move to P4 but a couple of laps later, both the Red Bulls were making moves as Isack Hadjar and Max Verstappen got past Norris and Lewis Hamilton to put the Red Bulls in fourth and fifth place respectively on lap 3. The Red Bulls were storming through the field as Hadjar was all over the back of Leclerc  and on lap 4, Hadjar breezed past Leclerc heading into Turn 2 to move into third place. A lap later, Verstappen eased past Leclerc on the main straight to move up to fourth place as the Red Bulls continued to impress early on. 

By lap 6, as Russell led from Piastri with the two Red Bulls right behind him, Kimi Antonelli, who had a shocking qualifying and started P16, was up to P14, after dropping a place on the opening lap itself.  Verstappen moved into third place on lap 7, getting past Hadjar with relative ease as the team instructed the duo to not fight amongst themselves. As the race completed its 10th lap, Russell had a lead of almost five seconds at the front with Piastri keeping Verstappen just out of the DRS range while Hadjar hung on right behind his teammate as well with Leclerc a further three seconds behind, which made up the top five. In a couple of laps time, Antonelli was up to P11, just outside the points while Hamilton was making up ground on Norris for P6 as Russell at the top continued to extend his lead and was over seven seconds clear of Piastri. On lap 16, an error from Norris saw Hamilton come closer and Hamilton got Norris for sixth position while Antonelli moved into the points as well, going past Ollie Bearman. 

There was little to no action on track but on lap 30, Norris locked up trying to go into Turn 1 which saw him fall down to P9 from P6 as Antonelli also made up a place on him. The first incident of the race saw Alex Albon smash into the wall at Turn 5 that brought out the Yellow Flag and then the Safety Car. As the Safety Car came out, the cars came in for their pit stops including race leader George Russell and the top eight as well. After five laps under the Safety Car, racing resumed on lap 35 and while Russell and the top half was clean, the two Alpines came together and crashed together at Turn 1 and Lando Norris was also caught in the incident which saw the Safety Car come out instantly again. The Alpines got back on track and limped back to the pits but it was Norris whose race ended. 

The Safety Car ended for a second time on lap 38 with Russell trying to catch the rest off but Verstappen and Piastri managed to stay in touch with him. Russell managed to keep Verstappen and Piastri behind with Hadjar, Leclerc and Hamilton making up the top six. Antonelli moved up to P7 amidst the chaos. On lap 40, Piastri locked up at Turn 1 trying to get past Verstappen and went straight on which saw him drop straight down to P15 and Hadjar moved into the podium places. The last couple of laps saw a two-way battle at the top with Verstappen pressing Russell before on lap 46 he brushed the wall going into Turn 1 and gave Russell some breathing space. Verstappen though didn’t let it affect him as he was back on the pace and was under a second behind Russell. Russell himself had a moment of oversteer on lap 50 at Turn 1 itself which saw Verstappen get closer to him.

Russell, just about, hung on for the last two laps. Verstappen came agonisingly close and it was Russell winning by 0.1s in the end as Verstappen pushed him all the way, right to the very end. Hadjar finished on the podium, giving Red Bull a double podium while Leclerc and Antonelli finished in the top five. Lewis Hamilton, Arvid Lindblad, Esteban Ocon, Ollie Bearman and Carlos Sainz rounded out the points places as Piastri’s lock up saw him finish a lowly P14, meaning that McLaren walked away with 0 points from Baku. The first race of a triple header, racing continues as the grid moves to Malaysia for the Bahrain Grand Prix next weekend.