George Russell secured pole position for the 2026 Azerbaijan Grand Prix at the Baku City Circuit today. The Mercedes driver posted a dominant lap time of 1:42.526.
Russell’s performance established a significant margin of 0.837 seconds over Charles Leclerc, who qualified second for Ferrari. This marks the largest pole position advantage recorded during the current 2026 Formula 1 season.
The qualifying session saw championship leader Kimi Antonelli crash out in Q1. The Mercedes driver hit the wall at Turn 1, sustaining terminal front-left suspension damage.
Antonelli, who leads the drivers’ standings by 81 points over teammate Russell, will start Saturday’s race from 16th position.
Charles Leclerc secured second place with a 1:43.363 lap, closely followed by Oscar Piastri of McLaren, who recorded a 1:43.364.
Isack Hadjar placed his Red Bull fourth on the grid with a time of 1:43.500. Lando Norris, despite a late Q3 error, qualified fifth for McLaren at 1:43.672.
Lewis Hamilton secured sixth position for Ferrari with a 1:43.858. Pierre Gasly placed his Alpine seventh, clocking a 1:44.047.
Max Verstappen qualified eighth for Red Bull, recording a lap time of 1:44.081. Carlos Sainz achieved a season-best ninth for Williams with a 1:44.566.
Franco Colapinto completed the top ten for Alpine, setting a time of 1:44.963.
Russell expressed his determination following the session. He stated, ‘I’m going to keep fighting at every single race until it’s mathematically impossible.’
The Baku City Circuit, a 6.003-kilometre street track, features 20 turns and is known for its unique layout. It includes the longest straight on the F1 calendar, measuring 2.2 kilometres.
The circuit also presents a challenging narrow section near the Old Town, where the track is just 7.6 metres wide. Charles Leclerc holds the race lap record of 1:43.009, set in 2019.
The start of Q1 was delayed due to track cleaning operations following incidents in the earlier Formula 2 feature race.
Lance Stroll will start the race from the back of the grid due to an engine penalty. The 2026 Azerbaijan Grand Prix, Round 15 of the season, is scheduled for Saturday, September 26.
