Russell Takes Baku Pole by 0.837 Seconds as Championship Leader Antonelli Crashes Out in Q1

George Russell took pole in Azerbaijan Grand Prix 2026 qualifying with a 1:42.526, 0.837 seconds clear of Charles Leclerc. Leclerc beat Oscar Piastri to the front row by a single thousandth. Isack Hadjar qualified fourth on his return after three races out injured, four places ahead of Max Verstappen, who’d topped FP3. Championship leader Kimi Antonelli clipped the wall at Turn 7 on his second flying lap of Q1, broke the track rod and starts 16th. Audi lost both cars in Q1 at a venue where they’d brought a big upgrade package.

Key Points: Azerbaijan Grand Prix 2026 Qualifying

• Russell takes pole with a 1:42.526, 0.837 seconds clear of the field after improving on each of his three Q3 runs
• Leclerc beats Piastri to P2 by 0.001 seconds, using a tow from Hamilton on the final run
• Hadjar fourth on his return from three races out injured, Verstappen eighth after topping FP3
• Championship leader Antonelli hits the inside wall at Turn 7 in Q1, track rod damage ends his session and he starts 16th
• Audi lose both cars in Q1 despite bringing upgrades to Baku, both Aston Martins start from the back on power unit penalties
• Eliminated in Q1: Bortoleto, Hülkenberg, Alonso, Perez, Stroll, Bottas. Eliminated in Q2: Bearman, Lawson, Albon, Ocon, Lindblad, Antonelli

Q1: Antonelli Hits the Wall as Audi Lose Both Cars

Qualifying started late. Accidents in F2 earlier in the day left debris for the marshals to check, and Q1 went green at 16:04 local time, four minutes behind schedule. Verstappen had topped FP3 for Red Bull, Russell second.

Bottas led the queue out for Cadillac, Colapinto, Perez and Gasly behind him. McLaren waited longest, sending Norris and Piastri out with sixteen minutes left and straight into traffic. Plenty of the field had needed two warm-up laps earlier in the day, and temperatures had dropped since.

Stroll locked up into Turn 7, glanced the wall and continued. Both Aston Martins start from the back regardless, with grid penalties for taking extra power unit components.

Verstappen was the first big name to set a lap, a 1:45.168. Hadjar beat it by 0.466 seconds. Hamilton split the two Red Bulls, 0.155 seconds off. Mercedes were nowhere on the first runs. Antonelli sat sixth, eight tenths off. Russell was worse, ninth and more than a second back.

Russell’s next lap fixed that. A 1:44.277, top by 0.002 seconds from Verstappen. Antonelli’s next lap ended in the wall. He caught the inside of the wall at Turn 7 on only his second flying lap, picked up a front puncture and parked. The damage included the track rod. He was seventh on the timesheet when he stopped, and his first-run time was the only one he’d get.

With three minutes left, Bearman, Hülkenberg, Alonso, Perez, Bottas and Stroll sat in the drop zone. Verstappen led from Hadjar, Hamilton and Russell. Then Russell went again, four tenths clear of Verstappen. Norris climbed to sixth ahead of Piastri, with Ocon, Sainz and Colapinto all inside the top ten.

Neither Audi was on a lap when the flag came out, with no improvement from either driver on their last runs. Both Audis were out in Q1 despite the major upgrade package brought to Baku. Bearman jumped to tenth as the yellows came out, then slipped to 13th as the late laps landed. Stroll stopped on track and Albon moved into the top ten.

Eliminated in Q1: 17th Gabriel Bortoleto, 18th Nico Hülkenberg, 19th Fernando Alonso, 20th Sergio Perez, 21st Lance Stroll, 22nd Valtteri Bottas.

Q2: Hadjar Goes Third as Bearman Runs Out of Time

Everyone went out on new softs, Alpine the only team to hold back. Antonelli’s car stayed in the garage. Sainz led the queue with no tow at all, and most of the field went for a double warm-up again, so the first push laps didn’t land until nine minutes left.

Norris set the early mark, a 1:44.020, 0.030 seconds up on Piastri. Leclerc beat it. Russell beat Leclerc, back on top by 0.149 seconds. Hadjar sixth, Verstappen seventh.

With seven minutes left, Lawson, Lindblad and Bearman sat in the drop zone with Antonelli, both Alpines still without a time. Two push runs in, Verstappen had slipped to seventh, then eighth when Gasly went ahead of him. Hadjar went the other way, climbing to third on his first weekend back after three races out injured.

McLaren kept the same tyres for their final run, out with time for one warm-up lap. Lindblad had a moment on his, not ideal from inside the drop zone. Bearman was ninth with a minute left and pitted, out of fuel and out of time, left to watch. Hadjar ran through the run-off area for a brief yellow.

Ocon brought out more yellows at Turn 2 at the end. Leclerc aborted his lap but was already safe. Verstappen had already pitted, his existing time enough for Q3. Lawson’s final lap went wrong and nobody else in the drop zone was on a hot lap, so the order held. Bearman dropped to eleventh. Sainz carried Williams into Q3, Albon out in thirteenth. Russell topped Q2 on a 1:43.462, Verstappen second on a 1:43.706.

Eliminated in Q2: 11th Oliver Bearman, 12th Liam Lawson, 13th Alex Albon, 14th Esteban Ocon, 15th Arvid Lindblad, 16th Kimi Antonelli (no time set in Q2).

Q3: Russell Takes Pole by 0.837 Seconds

Both Alpines and Sainz joined the usual front-runners in the top ten, Antonelli the missing name. Russell went out alone. No tow. Sainz was well behind him, with Verstappen, Norris and Piastri next out.

Russell’s banker was a 1:43.713, a quarter of a second slower than his Q2 time. A small lock-up into Turn 1, then a fight with the car through Turn 4, where the low sun makes the braking point hard to pick out at this time of day.

McLaren got both cars ahead of him. Piastri went top on a 1:43.571, a tenth up on Norris. Verstappen slotted into fourth.

Russell went again on the same tyres, Hadjar ahead of him on track. A 1:43.037 put him back on top, half a second clear of Piastri. Hadjar went fourth ahead of Hamilton, Leclerc second but four tenths down. Colapinto locked up heavily and went off with three minutes left, still without a representative lap. Nobody else was caught by the yellows.

Final run. Russell purple in the first sector, running behind Hadjar again. Purple in the second. A 1:42.526.

Nobody got near it. Norris made a mistake and bailed. Leclerc used a tow from Hamilton to go second. Piastri third, a thousandth behind him. Hadjar fourth. No purple sectors from anyone behind Russell.

Norris fifth, Hamilton sixth. Gasly seventh ahead of Verstappen, Sainz ninth, Colapinto tenth.

Qualifying Classification: Azerbaijan Grand Prix 2026

Race Ahead

The race runs Saturday at 12:00 UK time, 15:00 in Baku, with Sunday 27 September Remembrance Day in Azerbaijan. Russell starts from pole with Leclerc alongside. Piastri and Hadjar share row two.

Antonelli starts 16th. Both Aston Martins go to the back on power unit penalties.

Coffee Corner Take

0.837 seconds. Probably the biggest margin of his career by Russell’s own count, F2 and F3 included. His banker lap was scrappy and McLaren had both cars ahead of him with seven minutes left. He answered twice, each run quicker than the one before. By the final lap nobody behind him found a single purple sector, and the tow that helped him find a tenth or two came from a Red Bull.

Antonelli starts 16th after hitting the wall on his second flying lap of Q1. Russell starts from pole. Same car, fifteen places apart. That’s a real chance for Russell to take points off the championship leader in his own garage.

Hadjar returned after three races out injured and qualified fourth, four places ahead of Verstappen. Verstappen topped FP3 and was second in Q2. By the end of Q3 he was behind a Gasly Alpine.

Norris bailed on his last lap. Leclerc found enough with Hamilton’s tow to beat Piastri by 0.001 seconds, but both were still more than eight tenths away from Russell. Leclerc called the gap “quite big” and pointed at Ferrari’s straight-line speed.