George Russell secured pole position for the 2026 Azerbaijan Grand Prix at the Baku City Circuit, posting a lap time of 1:42.526. This performance placed him 0.837 seconds ahead of Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc.
The Mercedes driver described his pole lap as potentially the largest margin of his career, encompassing his time in F2 and F3. Russell topped every segment of the qualifying session.
Russell’s achievement marks his fifth pole position of the current 2026 Formula 1 season and his twelfth career pole. His previous pole came in June at the Austrian Grand Prix.
The session was notably impacted by an incident involving his Mercedes teammate, Kimi Antonelli. Antonelli crashed out in Q1 at Turn 1, making contact with the inside wall.
The collision caused terminal damage to Antonelli’s front-left suspension and resulted in a puncture. His race engineer, Peter Bonnington, instructed him to stop the car due to the extent of the damage.
Antonelli’s Q1 lap time was sufficient for him to nominally progress to Q2, but he was unable to participate further in the session. He will start the Azerbaijan Grand Prix from 16th position.
The championship leader, who holds an 81-point advantage over Russell, attributed the crash to a mistake. Antonelli noted the rapidly increasing grip caught him out, causing him to turn into Turn 1 sharper than anticipated.
Max Verstappen, who had shown strong pace by topping FP3, qualified in eighth position. His Q3 session was compromised by a series of technical issues and external factors.
Verstappen reported a significant lack of top speed, with his engine ‘not working’ and being half a second slower than his teammate on the straights. A battery charging issue on his Q3 build lap forced him to abort, leading to a loss of tire temperature.
His final flying lap was further affected by a yellow flag, which was triggered by Lando Norris. Verstappen stated these issues collectively made his qualifying a ‘disaster.’
Lando Norris qualified fifth for McLaren, but his final Q3 attempt ended with a four-wheel lock-up at Turn 3, sending him into the runoff area. This incident caused the yellow flag that impacted Verstappen.
Isack Hadjar, returning from a three-race absence due to a wrist injury, delivered a strong performance for Red Bull, qualifying fourth. He out-qualified his teammate Max Verstappen by over half a second.
Russell also acknowledged benefiting from a slipstream behind Hadjar on his pole lap, estimating a gain of ‘a tenth or two’ on the long back straight.
The top ten qualifiers for the 2026 Azerbaijan Grand Prix are: 1. George Russell (Mercedes), 2. Charles Leclerc (Ferrari), 3. Oscar Piastri (McLaren), 4. Isack Hadjar (Red Bull), 5. Lando Norris (McLaren), 6. Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari), 7. Pierre Gasly (Alpine), 8. Max Verstappen (Red Bull), 9. Carlos Sainz (Williams), 10. Franco Colapinto (Alpine).
Carlos Sainz, who qualified ninth, later received a five-place grid penalty for failing to slow under yellow flags. This will alter the final starting grid for Saturday’s race.
The Azerbaijan Grand Prix is the first event in the final nine races of the 2026 Formula 1 season. The race has been scheduled for Saturday, September 26, due to Sunday, September 27, being Azerbaijan’s Remembrance Day.
The Baku City Circuit is a 6.003-kilometre street track featuring 20 corners and the longest straight on the F1 calendar, measuring 2.2 kilometres. Its narrowest point, the Turn 8/9 ‘Old Town’ complex, is just 7.6 metres wide.
