2026 F1 Azerbaijan Grand Prix Recap

By Ryan Wu

George Russell capitalized on his pole position to win the closest race in Formula 1 in 24 years. Russell started from pole after Championship leader Kimi Antonelli crashed out during qualifying and looked to pull away to a dominant race win. However, chaos ensued when two safety cars nullified his 10 second lead and allowed Max Verstappen to close the gap.

The final lap then began and Russell had generated a small lead but a Valtteri Bottas crash at Turn 15 brought out the yellow flags which forced the two drivers vying for the race win to slow down and allowed Verstappen to gain further ground.

Russell then reported that he had a turbo failure and the two cars essentially had a drag race towards the finish in which Russell ultimately won by 0.196 seconds.

Race control at the end of the race shared that a virtual safety car was not deployed as they deemed that drivers could have cut the apex at Turn 15 to avoid Bottas’ stranded car. Their decision ultimately proved to be the right one from an entertainment perspective as it allowed for a dramatic finish.

Isack Hadjar rounded out the podium places which gave Red Bull its first double podium finish of 2026 and brought the team within 43 points of McLaren for third place in the Constructors Championship

Race Recap

All 22 drivers managed to get through the opening lap of the race unscathed as Oscar Piastri jumped a spot to claim second place over Charles Leclerc when the lights went out. Antonelli was up to ninth position by lap 23 as he sliced and diced his way up the order and Lando Norris narrowly avoided disaster as he locked up into turn one on lap 30 to drop from seventh to ninth place.

It appeared as if the race would progress without much drama until a lap later when Alex Albon crashed on lap 31 which required the deployment of the safety car.

Once racing resumed, the two Alpines collided into turn 1 and took out Norris as well. It was an unfortunate end to the day for Pierre Gasly and Franco Colapinto as Alpine was looking at a likely double points finish. This incident drew the ire of the reigning World Champion Norris as he was quoted after the race saying “Just some drivers that shouldn’t be in Formula 1, to be honest.” comments for which he has since apologized to Colapinto. Colapinto had missed his breaking point and collided with Gasly who then hit Norris.

Just behind them, Arvid Lindblad of the Racing Bulls also hit his own teammate Liam Lawson but both drivers managed to stay within the race and Lindblad claimed a great points finish by crossing the line in seventh with his own drag race with Esteban Ocon in a fight to claim the position.

The race ultimately ended with six drivers not finishing and the win by Russell along with a 5th place finish by Antonelli closed the Championship points gap to 66 points in favor of the Italian phenom.

With eight races remaining, it was a massive result for the English driver vying for his maiden title.

Racing Refresh Driver of the Day

George Russell, Mercedes

Final Points Finishing Positions

1st:  George Russell

2nd: Max Verstappen

3rd: Isack Hadjar

4th: Charles Leclerc

5th: Kimi Antonelli

6th: Lewis Hamilton

7th: Arvid Lindblad

8th: Esteban Ocon

9th: Oliver Bearman

10th: Carlos Sainz

Next on the F1 Schedule:

Bahrain Grand Prix: October 2nd-4th