Five Takeaways: Azerbaijan Grand Prix
If there’s one thing you should know about Formula One, it’s this: it’s never over until it’s over. This past weekend in Baku, that sentiment rang true as yet another twist in the championship battle took place.
Here are DIVEBOMB’s five takeaways from the 2026 Azerbaijan Grand Prix.
Russell wins a to-the-line thriller
After the last Grand Prix in Madrid, Mercedes’ George Russell had written off his chances of catching up to his teammate Kimi Antonelli in the championship battle. Ahead of Azerbaijan, though, he stated he would keep fighting until it was “mathematically impossible”. By the time Russell crossed the line first in Baku, his championship probabilities not only increased, but his confidence did as well.
Russell was dominant all weekend long, setting the fastest time in qualifying and posting the largest gap from the field since 2002, with the gap between himself and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc in second being a whopping 0.837 seconds. After Friday’s qualifying, Russell was all smiles, stating that it was “the best lap of his career”.
During Saturday’s Grand Prix, Russell started off on a tear, pulling out an 11-second gap to the drivers behind. Fastest lap after fastest lap got banked in by the Briton, but a Safety Car bunched the field back together, effectively erasing all of his hard work. A second Safety Car restart later, Russell had the fight of a lifetime on his hands as he defended against the persistent attacks of Max Verstappen up until the very end.
Russell crossed the line in first, beating out Verstappen by one tenth of a second.
“Every race since the [summer] break, I feel like I’ve gone from strength to strength,” said Russell following the race.
“I feel more like myself again, so that’s really great.”
Russell’s teammate and championship leader, Kimi Antonelli, started in sixteenth place after crashing out of qualifying in Q1. The young Italian was able to recover a good chunk of places, finishing fifth.
With his victory on Saturday, Russell cut his 81-point deficit down to 66 points.
Norris vs Colapinto
Lando Norris didn’t start the Baku race well, qualifying only fifth and losing places early. His straight-line speed simply just wasn’t there, and the Red Bulls ahead were much quicker than anticipated.
Still, Norris was making some progress on the first Safety Car restart, up until a mistake from Alpine’s Franco Colapinto sent both Norris and Colapinto's teammate Pierre Gasly off-track and into the wall. Subsequently, all three drivers were forced to retire from the Grand Prix, costing Alpine a solid chunk of points valuable in their Constructors’ Championship battle.
For Norris, though, whose car had just received a handful of upgrades ahead of the triple header, his frustrations with the situation were not held back.
“At the end of the day, I just got taken out,” Norris said to the media after the race.
“Just some drivers that shouldn’t be in F1, to be honest.”
Later, the reigning world champ added to this sentiment, even suggesting that Colapinto’s mistake should be grounds for a race ban. Thankfully for Colapinto, no race ban is in his sights at the moment; however, he was handed a time penalty post-race that will convert to five-place grid penalty for his on-track actions.
Hadjar’s return aids in double Red Bull podium
After sitting the past three races out with a wrist injury, Red Bull’s Isack Hadjar made his return to the F1 paddock in Baku, and boy was it a return for the books.
The Frenchman qualified fourth on Friday, with his teammate Max Verstappen off the mark in eighth position. During Saturday’s race, the Red Bulls quickly displayed their newfound speed, working as a team to quickly move through the pack and dismantle the cars ahead. The duo of Verstappen and Hadjar sat third and fourth respectively, with Hadjar electing to remain behind his teammate in hopes that Verstappen would be able to pass the McLaren of Oscar Piastri ahead and fight for the race win.
Unfortunately for them, Piastri proved to be a stubborn obstacle to pass, and Verstappen’s fading medium tyres were not helping him get any closer to the papaya car ahead.
Red Bull’s big break came late in the race, as Piastri suffered a fatal lock-up that threw him off course and to the back of the grid. With the Australian papaya driver out the way, Verstappen and Hadjar moved forward with their podium plans.
With a new set of fresh tyres combined with a Safety Car restart, Verstappen found himself closer to the back of Russell’s Mercedes than he had been all race long. The Dutchman kept the pressure piled onto Russell right up to the line, but unfortunately was unable to make the pass necessary to win the Grand Prix.
Second place was awarded to Verstappen and third for Hadjar, who was more than pleased with the outcome after his hiatus.
“I’m happy. It’s been a very long six weeks. It’s been like six weeks since I enjoyed myself,” he said after the race.
“I’m very, very happy for an actual first proper podium on pure pace. I’m very, very delighted.”
Baku: 2, Piastri: 1
For McLaren’s Piastri, the Azerbaijan Grand Prix has been a hit or miss. The Australian had a win there in 2024, then crashed in both qualifying and the Grand Prix in 2025. Ahead of the race this year, Piastri had joked to the media that Baku is his best and worst race, and that we’d have to see what this year had in store for him.
Things started off well for Piastri, as he qualified in third on Friday, his best outcome since the Miami Grand Prix back in May. Heading into Saturday’s race, Piastri seemed optimistic about the pace of his McLaren, along with the upgrades the team had implemented for the triple header.
Piastri was quick off the line and slotted into second position right behind Russell, where he remained for a large chunk of the race. Following the chaos of the Safety Car restarts, Piastri had a lock-up into Turn 1, causing him to glide off-track as most of the field roared past.
When the dust settled, Piastri found himself crossing the line in fourteenth place.
"Just disappointed. Obviously I think the first stint and the first half of the race was very encouraging and then from there on, it kind of unravelled," said Piastri after the exchange.
"The lock-up, I need to understand what happened because it certainly took me by surprise. I need to go and have a look, but obviously very disappointing not to have a result at the end."
With his point-less campaign in Baku, Piastri’s difficult season continues heading into Malaysia next week.
Racing Bulls: Trouble in paradise
For Liam Lawson, it was week one back at the Racing Bulls camp after having been racing for Red Bull the past three races in place of an injured Hadjar.
Lawson was knocked out of Q2 along with his teammate, Arvid Lindblad, but both drivers were able to recover up into contention for a double points finish going into the final phases of the Grand Prix.
Unfortunately, Lindblad’s move inside resulted in contact with his teammate, sending Lawson off-track and out of points contention. Lindblad on the other hand, was able to remain within the points, and finished in seventh after making a late pass on the Haas right at the line.
After the race, Lawson was asked about the incident between the two Racing Bulls drivers.
“I need to watch it. We were all coming into Turn 1 on the restart and I just got smoked from my left. It put a hole in my floor as well,” he said.
“I don’t really know what gap he was looking for in the middle of both of us going into Turn 1 – I just don’t understand it. Obviously great points for the team but it sucks for our race.”
Looking Ahead
That wraps up race one of a three-race triple header. With new upgrades and implications in the championship battle, the teams head into Malaysia next weekend for the second race of the stretch.
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