Practice for the 2026 Azerbaijan Grand Prix told two very different stories. By Friday, the fight for pole in Baku had turned into a three-team scrap.
George Russell set the early pace. He topped a dusty FP1 with a 1:45.387, four tenths clear of Max Verstappen and just ahead of Charles Leclerc. Two Virtual Safety Cars interrupted the session — one for Kimi Antonelli’s hydraulic failure, another for Nico Hulkenberg’s stranded Audi.
Meanwhile, Piastri lost time to a car issue, Norris ran on a temporary bargeboard fix, and Hadjar fought a power unit problem on his comeback from injury. Then Russell doubled down in FP2, leading a Mercedes one-two over Antonelli. Ferrari was the only team to escape Thursday unscathed.
However, Friday flipped the script. Verstappen denied Russell a clean sweep by just 0.099 seconds, using a tow to post a 1:43.922 in FP3. Hamilton followed only 0.111 seconds back, dragging Ferrari into real contention. Antonelli and Leclerc stayed close enough behind to punish any mistake.
Conditions stayed mild all weekend. It was warm and mostly dry, and Baku’s wind never turned as gusty as forecast — though it still kicked up a dusty, low-grip track at the start of each session.
Three drivers lead the way into qualifying. Verstappen tops the order, but only by the smallest of margins. Russell sits second, still the fastest car across Thursday. And Hamilton rounds out the top three, dragging Ferrari from also-ran to genuine pole contender in a single session.
George Russell took pole for the 2026 Azerbaijan Grand Prix with a lap that left the field trailing — a 0.946-second margin over Charles Leclerc, who dragged Ferrari onto the front row. Oscar Piastri came within a whisker of splitting the two, missing the front row by a fraction and settling for third.
Q1: Antonelli’s Wall Smash Overshadows Russell’s Late Charge To Top
Qualifying got underway four minutes behind schedule, with Valtteri Bottas first out on track and Oscar Piastri last to leave the garage. Trouble struck almost immediately — Lance Stroll had a big, nervy lock-up and ran off before a single representative time had been set, triggering an early yellow flag that cleared quickly.
Franco Colapinto set the first time of the session, a 1:45.768. Liam Lawson had gone quicker moments earlier, but running behind Stroll meant the double waved yellows wiped his lap. Among the frontrunners, Max Verstappen went fastest first, a 1:45.168.
George Russell slotted into third, unhappy over the radio.
“The front locking is terrible.” — George Russell, Mercedes driver, team radio
Isack Hadjar then went fastest of all, 0.466 seconds clear of Verstappen with a 1:44.702. Alex Albon had a time deleted for exceeding track limits at Turn 16. Hamilton and Leclerc then split the two Red Bulls, taking second and fourth to sandwich Verstappen in third. Lando Norris climbed to seventh before dropping to eighth as Piastri moved into third, just 0.312 seconds off Hadjar’s pace.
The session’s biggest moment came next. Kimi Antonelli hit the wall, breaking his suspension and puncturing his front-left tyre. With no response from the team over the radio and the tyre worn down to the rim, he parked the car rather than risk continuing — bringing out a yellow flag for the stricken Mercedes.
Russell went fastest in the aftermath, a 1:44.277. Elsewhere, the FIA noted a case of impeding involving Sergio Peréz and Piastri. Norris looked set to improve again — purple in the first sector, green turning purple in the second — before a car issue forced him to abandon the lap, leaving him down in twelfth. Pierre Gasly climbed to seventh.
Red Bull hit back. Verstappen and Hadjar jumped back above Russell to take over the top two, separated by just 0.120 seconds. Norris tried again, another purple opening sector, and moved up to sixth despite a yellow third sector. But Russell had the last word, going fastest by 0.426 seconds — the same pace he’d shown all weekend.
A second yellow flew for Stroll, this time stopping at Turn 3. Carlos Sainz moved up to eighth before dropping to ninth as Esteban Ocon leapfrogged him. Albon then took eighth for himself. Arvid Lindblad slipped to fourteenth, and Nico Hülkenberg couldn’t climb out of the drop zone.
Gabriel Bortoleto, Nico Hülkenberg, Fernando Alonso, Sergio Peréz, Lance Stroll, and Valtteri Bottas were eliminated in seventeenth through twenty-second.
Q2: Russell Stays On Top As The Wind Picks Up In Baku
The session had barely started before the yellow flags came out again — Arvid Lindblad ran off into the run-off area, caught out by a tailwind.
Carlos Sainz went out early, setting a 1:44.849. Verstappen and Hadjar followed soon after, going 1:44.282 and 1:44.236 respectively, Hadjar edging his teammate by a fraction.
Norris found a purple first sector, only for Piastri to snatch it straight back. Norris then went top with a 1:44.020, and Piastri responded immediately, just 0.030 seconds behind his teammate. Leclerc took over at the top with a 1:43.835 — before Russell beat them all, a 1:43.686.
The wind was picking up by this point, affecting everyone on track. Hadjar improved drastically to go third despite a yellow third sector. Hamilton found a purple first sector but could only climb to fifth.
The Alpines went next. Colapinto posted a 1:44.869, and Gasly followed with a 1:44.106 to go seventh — knocking his own teammate into the elimination zone. Russell set the fastest second sector of the session but couldn’t improve his overall time. With two minutes to go, Lindblad went off again.
Verstappen then took the fastest middle sector from Russell to move into second, just 0.020 seconds back. A fresh yellow flag flew, though it cleared quickly. Lawson missed the cut by one hundredth of a second. Piastri found the fastest first sector of anyone and improved to fourth.
Albon could only manage thirteenth, while Sainz climbed to ninth. Lindblad pitted and ended his session in fifteenth. Colapinto then improved into the top ten, pushing Bearman into the drop zone. Russell, unbothered, improved by another two tenths.
Eliminated in P11 through P16: Oliver Bearman, Liam Lawson, Alex Albon, Esteban Ocon, Arvid Lindblad, and Kimi Antonelli.
Q3: Russell Untouchable As Verstappen And Norris Falter
Russell set the benchmark first, a 1:43.713. Verstappen responded but fell well short, a 1:44.487 leaving him nearly eight tenths down. Norris then found two purple sectors and a 1:43.672 — only for Piastri to snatch it away by 0.101 seconds, the McLaren pair trading blows as they had all weekend.
Hadjar slotted into third, continuing a standout weekend for the young Frenchman. Russell, though, was far from finished. He found purple in the first sector, then the second, and reclaimed P1 with a lap that hinted at untapped pace still in hand.
Leclerc took the fastest first sector and jumped to second, hauling Ferrari back into the fight. The McLarens pitted early, opting for a second run on fresh rubber.
A yellow flag flew with Colapinto off track at Turn 15 — a brief track hazard that interrupted the rhythm of the session. Gasly used the break to climb to sixth.
With the track clear, Hadjar and Russell went again. Russell found even more pace in the first sector, but Hadjar was the surprise package — a 1:43.500 moving him to third. Then Russell crossed the line and obliterated the field, going P1 with a 0.946-second gap to second. It was a statement lap.
A second yellow flag flew for another track hazard, but the order at the front was already settled. Norris made a mistake on his final attempt — locking up all four wheels — and could not improve. Lewis Hamilton found no more than sixth.
Leclerc held second, Piastri third — just missing out on taking the front row from the Ferrari driver. Verstappen, the man who had topped the morning session, could only manage eighth.
Top 10: Russell, Leclerc, Piastri, Hadjar, Norris, Hamilton, Gasly, Verstappen, Sainz, Colapinto.