George Russell trumped Max Verstappen to the chequered flag in a nail-biting end at Baku. Right here’s how the drivers fared on the System 1 Azerbaijan Grand Prix.
Russell rounded off a dominant race weekend on the streets of Baku to win for the primary time this season since Austria. Max Verstappen mounted a spirited bid for his first outright win of 2026 however missed the mark by only a tenth of a second on the chequered flag.
Capping off the rostrum, Isack Hadjar marked a triumphant comeback with Pink Bull after his summer time break wrist damage.
George Russell: 10
Grid Place: P1, Race End result: P1
In his personal phrases, it was a “flawless” efficiency on the Baku Metropolis Avenue Circuit for the Mercedes driver.
Russell was in fantastic type in his W17 from the get-go, topping Thursday observe. And whereas Verstappen signalled his intention to spoil his occasion by snatching P1 in FP3, Russell sailed to a dominant pole place throughout qualifying.
The Briton was eight-tenths sooner than Charles Leclerc in Q3 – the most important qualifying margin of F1’s newest period – and drove a managed race on Saturday to take the win.
That stated, it wasn’t all simple for Russell, with the charging RB22 of Verstappen on his gearbox for many of the latter half of the race. However he prevailed over the Dutchman in a nail-biting end to the chequered flag, lowering his championship arrears to team-mate Andrea Kimi Antonelli to 66 factors heading into the race weekend at Sepang.
Kimi Antonelli: 7.5
Grid Place: P16, Race End result: P5
Again-to-back wins at Monza and the Madring had seen Antonelli prolong his championship lead over Russell, however Baku had a accident ready for the 20-year-old.
Antonelli’s Q1 shunt might develop into the defining second of his maiden title bid, with a damaged front-left suspension having consigned him to the eighth-row of the grid for the race on Saturday.
The Mercedes driver lacked pure tempo at Baku. That stated, restraint in the course of the 51-lap race and ground injury on the Security Automotive restart meant he took the chequered flag in fifth. It was injury limitation for Antonelli, and regardless of shedding factors, he nonetheless holds a sizeable benefit over Russell within the drivers’ standings.
However errors like Antonelli’s usually decide championships. On a weekend the place his team-mate was near-perfect, Antonelli could be cursing his luck on the streets of Baku.
Max Verstappen: 9
Grid Place: P8, Race End result: P2
Verstappen was at his very best as soon as once more at Baku. All through observe and qualifying, the Dutchman appeared just like the closest rival to the utter dominance of Russell.
However points together with his energy unit within the top-10 shootout meant he might solely put up the eighth-fastest lap in Q3. That, nevertheless, didn’t imply Verstappen wasn’t capable of drag his RB22 into race-winning competition.
A lot of the ultimate part of the 51-lap race was a cat-and-mouse sport between the 28-year-old and the Mercedes of Russell.
The four-time World Champion missed out on his maiden win of the most recent rules by only a tenth of a second on the chequered flag.
And whereas Russell has been counseled for a flawless efficiency, perhaps the one flaw in Verstappen’s weekend was that RBPT-Ford energy unit behind his automobile.
Isack Hadjar: 8.5
Grid Place: P4, Race End result: P3
Pink Bull’s choice to increase Hadjar’s contract into subsequent season has been vindicated by the 21-year-old.
Hadjar had delivered a strong stint with Pink Bull within the first half of the season, capped off by his podium at Monaco (which paradoxically was solely confirmed at Monza after the summer time break).
His wrist damage in the course of the summer time break, nevertheless, meant he missed three races on the trot.
Naturally, making a comeback after nearly two months of not having pushed the RB22, it wouldn’t have been remiss for the French-Algerian driver to have taken a while to settle in.
However he hit the bottom working across the twisty and slender streets of Baku. A stellar qualifying noticed him outpace Verstappen and earn a second-row beginning grid slot.
In the course of the race, Hadjar was greater than corresponding to his team-mate, as he saved himself in podium competition and pinned to the gearbox of Verstappen within the opening phases.
Hadjar benefitted from Oscar Piastri’s late-race lock-up to get himself into the ultimate podium place and saved it on the chequered flag.
Charles Leclerc: 7
Grid Place: P2, Race End result: P4
Leclerc’s front-row begin wasn’t a lot trigger for celebration for Ferrari within the context of the hole to Russell.
That stated, the Monegasque would have anticipated to a minimum of be capable of mount a problem for the rostrum on Saturday. It turned fairly clear that that was to not be the case firstly, with the SF-26 nowhere close to the likes of Mercedes and Pink Bull when it comes to outright tempo.
In the long run, Leclerc took the chequered flag 14 seconds behind the leaders, dropping right down to fourth.
Lewis Hamilton: 7.5
Grid Place: P6, Race End result: P6
Baku turned out to be yet one more disappointing footnote in Hamilton’s 2026 title bid. The ADUO 2 Ferrari energy unit behind Hamilton’s SF-26 proved to be his Achilles’ heel on the lengthy straights all through the 51-lap race.
His sixth-place end means he’s now greater than 100 factors behind championship chief Antonelli, heading into the race weekend at Sepang.
Arvid Lindblad: 8
Grid Place: P15, Race End result: P7
It was a powerful consequence for Racing Bulls and Lindblad after a compromised qualifying.
Chaos across the British-Swedish driver let him stage a strong drive into the factors, however the first Security Automotive restart left a foul style within the mouth for his team-mate Liam Lawson and the Faenza-based squad.
That stated, regardless of driving into his team-mate, Lindblad didn’t maintain sufficient injury to his automobile or his expertise and nonetheless scored a good-looking haul of factors on the finish of the 51-lap race.
Liam Lawson: 6.5
Grid Place: P11, Race End result: P12
It was a largely irritating race for Lawson on the Baku Metropolis Avenue Circuit, owing primarily to the incident together with his team-mate on the first Security Automotive restart.
The Kiwi driver, on his first weekend again with Racing Bulls since Zandvoort, was pummelled into by Lindblad. The influence left him with huge injury, and unable to stage any form of restoration within the closing 15 laps.
Esteban Ocon: 7.5
Grid Place: P13, Race End result: P8
Ocon’s Haas stint may nicely and really be coming to an finish after 2026. The Frenchman has not been capable of blow his a lot youthful team-mate Oliver Bearman out of the water, and Ayao Komatsu could bend his will for Ferrari junior Rafael Câmara.
That stated, off late, Ocon has been making a powerful case for himself to get again right into a race seat elsewhere for 2027. His cost up from thirteenth on the grid and into the factors is simply one other footnote in favor of his case.
Oliver Bearman: 7
Grid Place: P10, Race End result: P9
Haas has struggled within the improvement race in opposition to its rivals all through this season. A powerful package deal within the form of the VF-26 has rapidly changed into a difficult demon to haul for Bearman.
However at Baku, the Briton delivered a measured efficiency within the midfield, not solely making it into Q3, but additionally breaking his point-less streak subsisting since Monaco to take the chequered flag in ninth.
Carlos Sainz: 8
Grid Place: P14, Race End result: P10
It was a return to type for Sainz at Baku. 2026 has been a 12 months of struggles for the previous Ferrari driver however he broke a disappointing development by securing his first Q3 look of the 12 months on Friday.
That stated, a grid drop for a yellow flag infringement meant he began the race from 14th on the grid.
The FW48, nevertheless, had race tempo to unlock and Sainz was capable of claw his Williams again into the factors, on the chequered flag, for the primary time since Canada in Might.
Alex Albon: N/A
Grid Place: P12, Race End result: DNF
It was a promising outing for the British-Thai driver within the sister FW48. Whereas he was unable to proceed by way of to Q3 like his team-mate, he ran as excessive as eleventh in the course of the 51-lap race.
However after 29 laps of navigating by way of the twisty Baku structure, a lock-up into Flip 5 ended Albon’s afternoon.
Wind had been a ache level for drivers all through the weekend, and the flawed aerodynamic profile of the 2026 Williams coupled with “huge wind gust” might have caught him out and led to the “bizarre crash” that meant he left Baku as one of many retirees.
Nico Hulkenberg: 7
Grid Place: P18, Race End result: P11
Audi’s progress in direction of the sharp finish of the midfield has faltered barely within the final couple of weekends. That stated, whereas missing one lap tempo, Hulkenberg greater than made it up with some measured driving all through the 51-lap race on Saturday.
Whereas he simply completed outdoors the factors, it was extra to do with a dearth of high velocity on the lengthy straights at Baku than a matter of the German driver’s ineptness to extract no matter tempo his automobile had.
Gabriel Bortoleto: 6
Grid Place: P17, Race End result: P15
The final 4 race weekends have been a tough part for the Brazilian driver alongside Hulkenberg within the sister Audi.
Baku was the fifth weekend in a row that Bortoleto has failed to complete within the factors. On Saturday, regardless of taking the chequered flag in thirteenth, a time penalty for a yellow flag infringement noticed him fall down the order and into fifteenth for the ultimate race classification.
Oscar Piastri: 5.5
Grid Place: P3, Race End result: P13
It will appear that nothing is working for the Australian in F1’s newest period. The hangover from his title cost tapering off within the dying embers of 2025 has carried over to 2026.
Baku, final 12 months, was a race to overlook for Piastri, and the 51-lap race on Saturday must be filed in the identical sorry cupboard.
The McLaren driver was working as excessive as second within the opening phases of the race however needed to make means for the sooner, extra scientific Verstappen. And whereas he would have hoped for a minimum of a podium, a late-race lock-up ended these hopes as he filtered out of the factors and stayed there on the chequered flag.
Lando Norris: N/A
Grid Place: P5, Race End result: DNF
It was a less-than-flattering race for Norris anyway till Franco Colapinto determined to tug the plug on the MCL40’s afternoon.
Whereas Norris was within the factors, he was nowhere close to the sharp finish of the sector when it comes to efficiency. On the Security Automotive restart, Colapinto’s late-braking shennanigans into Flip 1 meant the Argentine driver hit his team-mate Pierre Gasly, who in flip, punted Norris into the obstacles and out of the race.
Sergio Perez: 6.5
Grid Place: P20, Race End result: P14
It was a strong efficiency by Perez at Baku. Whereas his team-mate Valtteri Bottas was over a second off the Mexican’s tempo in Q1, Perez needed to begin behind the Finnish driver owing to a three-place grid drop for a qualifying infringement.
The race noticed him being aggressive however the inherent lack of competitiveness of his Cadillac meant he was not going to attain the group’s first F1 championship factors at Baku.
Retirements round him, and a time penalty for Bortoleto meant he was categorized as 14th on the finish of the race.
Valtteri Bottas: N/A
Grid Place: P19, Race End result: DNF
Bottas was wildly off tempo throughout qualifying and easily unable to maintain his Cadillac between the white traces until the chequered flag dropped.
Although he argued that his crash was owing to technical issues together with his Ferrari energy unit, it can’t be denied that the Azerbaijan GP weekend was a completely uninspired and his most unimpressive outing but with Cadillac in 2026.
Franco Colapinto: N/A
Grid Place: P9, Race End result: DNF
Baku has not been a contented looking floor for Colapinto, and the race on Saturday was his most devastating but.
A misjudgment on the first Security Automotive restart not solely ended his afternoon however that of his team-mate Pierre Gasly and McLaren’s Lando Norris – the trio working within the high 10 on the time of the incident.
Colapinto has rightly earned himself a grid drop for the race at Sepang, subsequent weekend.
Pierre Gasly: N/A
Grid Place: P7, Race End result: DNF
Gasly was rightly fuming on the group radio comms after his incident with Colapinto. A double DNF for the Enstone-based group, from the factors, is yet one more main blow to their ambitions of clinching P5 within the Constructors’ from Racing Bulls.
Fernando Alonso: N/A
Grid Place: P21, Race End result: DNF
Alonso had made it a behavior to complete within the high 10 at Baku lately. However yet one more reliability problem for the two-time F1 World Champion meant it was his sixth DNF of the season thus far.
Lance Stroll: N/A
Grid Place: P22, Race End result: DNF
It was Stroll’s eleventh DNF of the season – a stat neither the Canadian nor the Silverstone-based group could be too pleased with. Reliability gremlins and an absence of competitiveness have made 2026 a painfully lengthy season for Aston Martin.
READ MORE – Baku F1 Prime 3 defend Franco Colapinto after scathing Lando Norris assault
