2026 Azerbaijan GP Qualifying: Russell dominates in Baku

George Russell delivered a commanding qualifying performance on the streets of Baku to claim pole position for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, while Mercedes team-mate and 2026 F1 World Championship leader Kimi Antonelli suffered a shock elimination after crashing in Q1.

Four teams appeared capable of challenging for pole during a fiercely competitive session, but Russell separated himself from the field when it mattered. The Mercedes driver improved on each of his Q3 attempts before completing the session with a superb 1m 42.526s.

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The lap earned Russell his fifth pole position of the 2026 season and placed him 0.837s clear of Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc—an unusually large margin given how closely matched the leading contenders had appeared throughout qualifying. Leclerc secured the other front-row position with a 1m 43.363s, but only just. Oscar Piastri recorded a 1m 43.364s for McLaren, missing second place by one thousandth of a second and ensuring the top three featured three different constructors.

2026 Azerbaijan Grand Prix Qualifying Results

2026 Azerbaijan Grand Prix Qualifying, 25th September 2026

Pos.	No.	Driver	Team	Q1	Q2	Q3	Laps
1	63	George Russell	Mercedes	1:43.615	1:43.462	1:42.526	26
2	16	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	1:44.360	1:43.780	1:43.363	23
3	81	Oscar Piastri	McLaren	1:45.014	1:43.814	1:43.364	22
4	6	Isack Hadjar	Red Bull Racing	1:44.161	1:43.880	1:43.500	21
5	1	Lando Norris	McLaren	1:44.571	1:44.020	1:43.672	21
6	44	Lewis Hamilton	Ferrari	1:44.260	1:44.037	1:43.858	22
7	10	Pierre Gasly	Alpine	1:44.489	1:44.106	1:44.047	20
8	3	Max Verstappen	Red Bull Racing	1:44.041	1:43.706	1:44.081	24
9	55	Carlos Sainz	Williams	1:45.104	1:44.629	1:44.566	25
10	43	Franco Colapinto	Alpine	1:45.106	1:44.683	1:44.963	21
11	87	Oliver Bearman	Haas F1 Team	1:45.228	1:44.775		17
12	30	Liam Lawson	Racing Bulls	1:45.535	1:44.860		18
13	23	Alexander Albon	Williams	1:45.031	1:45.001		17
14	31	Esteban Ocon	Haas F1 Team	1:45.039	1:45.016		18
15	41	Arvid Lindblad	Racing Bulls	1:45.381	1:45.106		16
16	12	Kimi Antonelli	Mercedes	1:45.504			5
17	5	Gabriel Bortoleto	Audi	1:45.799			10
18	27	Nico Hulkenberg	Audi	1:45.920			10
19	14	Fernando Alonso	Aston Martin	1:46.593			9
20	11	Sergio Perez	Cadillac	1:46.658			9
21	18	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin	1:47.337			9
22	77	Valtteri Bottas	Cadillac	1:48.290			10

Isack Hadjar produced one of the standout results of the session by qualifying fourth for Red Bull. The returning driver, back in action after missing three rounds with a wrist injury, finished only 0.137s behind Leclerc and put himself on the second row alongside Piastri.

Lando Norris took fifth in the second McLaren, having lost the opportunity to improve when he locked up on his final lap. That mistake left him 0.309s behind team-mate Piastri and prevented McLaren from applying greater pressure to Russell at the front.

Lewis Hamilton had to settle for sixth in the second Ferrari. Pierre Gasly continued Alpine’s encouraging Baku weekend by securing seventh, while Max Verstappen could manage only eighth for Red Bull after topping final practice earlier on Friday.

Carlos Sainz qualified ninth for Williams, extracting a place in Q3 from the team’s extensive Azerbaijan upgrade package. Franco Colapinto completed the top 10 for Alpine, although he struggled to produce a fully representative lap during the final part of qualifying.

Ollie Bearman narrowly missed a place in the pole-position shootout and will start from 11th for Haas. He led Racing Bulls driver Liam Lawson and Williams’ Alex Albon, who was unhappy that Sainz had not helped provide him with a tow around Baku’s slipstream-sensitive layout.

Esteban Ocon took 14th in the second Haas, with Arvid Lindblad completing the Q2 runners in 15th. The Racing Bulls rookie’s session was compromised by mistakes as he continued to rebuild confidence following his heavy crash at the castle section during FP2.

Antonelli was the major casualty of Q1. The championship leader made contact with the wall at Turn 1, ending his session and leaving him 16th—far behind both Russell and his principal rivals at the front of the grid.

The result creates a major challenge for Antonelli in Saturday’s race. While Russell will start from pole, Antonelli must attempt to recover through the field at a circuit where overtaking is possible but incidents, safety cars and tightly packed barriers can quickly complicate any comeback.

Audi endured a disappointing session despite arriving in Baku with a substantial upgrade package. Gabriel Bortoleto was eliminated in 17th, with team-mate Nico Hulkenberg directly behind him in 18th.

Fernando Alonso was next after a significant lock-up sent his Aston Martin into one of the circuit’s run-off areas. His starting position will become even more difficult because both Alonso and team-mate Lance Stroll face substantial grid penalties for taking new power-unit components.

Those penalties will send the Aston Martin pair to the back row and promote the two Cadillacs. Former Azerbaijan Grand Prix winner Sergio Perez is set to move forward to 19th on Saturday’s grid, with Valtteri Bottas elevated to 20th.

Russell will therefore begin the Grand Prix from the ideal position after turning a close four-team fight into a decisive personal advantage. Behind him, Leclerc and Piastri are separated by only 0.001s, Hadjar has earned a surprise place on the second row and Antonelli faces a recovery drive from deep in the field.

For Mercedes, qualifying produced the sharpest possible contrast: a fifth pole of the year for Russell on one side of the garage and a damaging Q1 accident for the championship leader on the other.