Qualifying report
Formula 1 Azerbaijan GP
F1 Azerbaijan GP: George Russell takes dominant pole as Kimi Antonelli crashes out
George Russell takes his fifth pole of 2026 at Formula 1's Azerbaijan Grand Prix while championship leader Kimi Antonelli won't start higher than 16th after hitting the wall.
Filip Cleeren
Edited: Sep 25, 2026, 1:37 PM
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Andrea Kimi Antonelli, Mercedes
Photo by: Michael Potts / LAT images via Getty Images
Mercedes driver George Russell has beaten Charles Leclerc to take a dominant pole at F1's Azerbaijan GP, while team-mate and title favourite Kimi Antonelli crashed out of Q1.
At the 6km Baku City Circuit, Antonelli tagged the barriers on the inside of the Turn 1 left-hander during Q1, unable to limp back home in his Mercedes W17 with terminal front-left suspension damage. Antonelli had already set a time quick enough to advance to Q2, but was out of the session and is set to start 16th at best.
Team-mate Russell, who had already proven his rapid pace through Thursday's practice sessions, capitalised fully to take a dominant pole ahead of Charles Leclerc and Oscar Piastri, the Briton's fifth pole of the campaign.
McLaren sprung an early surprise in Q3 when Piastri and Lando Norris jumped early pacesetter Russell to top the first barrage of qualifying runs. Off the back of a messy brace of practices, the papaya squad had yet to string together optimal qualifying laps, with Norris even suspecting something was wrong in his car in Q1.
But Piastri's 1m43.571s lap proved an achievable target for Russell to beat, with the Briton going half a second faster on his second run to set a rapid 1m43.037s, which none of his competitors could find an answer for.
On the final run, Russell took yet another five-tenth chunk out of his own benchmark to set a dominant 1m42.526s pole lap.
Ferrari employed a different run plan by delaying its first run, which yielded Leclerc provisional second, and the Monegasque found another tenth that secured that position on the grid ahead of Piastri, albeit a sobering eight tenths behind Russell.
Isack Hadjar celebrated his return from injury with fourth on the grid, while Norris slipped up on his final attempt and settled for fifth ahead of Hamilton. Pierre Gasly secured seventh for Alpine as Max Verstappen could only manage eighth following a suspected energy deployment issue, and lost further time under a yellow flag caused by Norris.
Carlos Sainz made full use of Williams' upgraded FW48 to claim ninth, as Franco Colapinto qualified tenths following an erratic Q3 session.
George Russell, Mercedes
Photo by: Alex Pantling / LAT Images via Getty Images
Russell topped Q2 with a late 1m43.462s effort, two tenths ahead of Verstappen as it promised to set up a tight pole shoot-out.
The battle for the final Q3 spots was as close as it has been all season with Williams now in the hunt, and Sainz capitalised to go ninth and claim a rare Q3 berth. The dramatic rate of track evolution meant drivers were fueled up for multiple laps to try and peak on their final run In the dying seconds Alpine's Colapinto snatched 10th away from Haas driver Oliver Bearman, joining his team-mate Gasly in the next segment.
Racing Bulls was the biggest victim in Q2 with Liam Lawson out in 12th, followed by the second Williams of Alex Albon and Esteban Ocon in the remaining Haas. Arvid Lindblad could only muster 15th to continue what has been a messy weekend so far for the Briton, off the back of an FP2 crash which team principal Alan Permane ascribed to "rookie enthusiasm".
Russell also led the way in Q1 after Antonelli disappeared, demoting Verstappen at the end of the session with a 1m43.615s lap. In the background, Williams comfortably made it through with both of its upgraded cars.
On a high-speed track exposing its power unit deficit, Audi paid the price of Williams' progress as Gabriel Bortoleto and Nico Hulkenberg were both eliminated in 17th and 18th. The four cars from Cadillac and Aston Martin were also punched out, with Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll already facing a back-of-the-grid penalty for Honda power unit changes.
F1 Azerbaijan GP Qualifying Results
All Stats
Cla Driver # Chassis Engine Laps Time Interval Tyres km/h 1 G. Russell Mercedes 63
Mercedes Mercedes 26
1'42.526
S 210.783 2 C. Leclerc Ferrari 16
Ferrari Ferrari 23
+0.837
1'43.363
0.837 S 209.076 3 O. Piastri McLaren 81
McLaren Mercedes 22
+0.838
1'43.364
0.001 S 209.074 4 I. Hadjar Red Bull Racing 6
Red Bull Red Bull 21
+0.974
1'43.500
0.136 S 208.799 5 L. Norris McLaren 1
McLaren Mercedes 21
+1.146
1'43.672
0.172 S 208.453 6 L. Hamilton Ferrari 44
Ferrari Ferrari 22
+1.332
1'43.858
0.186 S 208.080 7 P. Gasly Alpine 10
Alpine Mercedes 20
+1.521
1'44.047
0.189 S 207.702 8 M. Verstappen Red Bull Racing 3
Red Bull Red Bull 24
+1.555
1'44.081
0.034 S 207.634 9 C. Sainz Williams 55
Williams Mercedes 25
+2.040
1'44.566
0.485 S 206.671 10 F. Colapinto Alpine 43
Alpine Mercedes 21
+2.437
1'44.963
0.397 S 205.889 11 O. Bearman Haas F1 Team 87
Haas Ferrari 17
+2.249
1'44.775
S 206.259 12 L. Lawson Racing Bulls 30
RB Red Bull 18
+2.334
1'44.860
0.085 S 206.091 13 A. Albon Williams 23
Williams Mercedes 17
+2.475
1'45.001
0.141 S 205.815 14 E. Ocon Haas F1 Team 31
Haas Ferrari 18
+2.490
1'45.016
0.015 S 205.785 15 A. Lindblad Racing Bulls 41
RB Red Bull 16
+2.580
1'45.106
0.090 S 205.609 16
A. Kimi Antonelli Mercedes
12 
Mercedes Mercedes 5
+2.978
1'45.504
0.398 S 204.833 17 G. Bortoleto Audi 5
Audi Audi 10
+3.273
1'45.799
0.295 S 204.262 18 N. Hulkenberg Audi 27
Audi Audi 10
+3.394
1'45.920
0.121 S 204.029 19 F. Alonso Aston Martin Racing 14
Aston Martin Honda 9
+4.067
1'46.593
0.673 S 202.741 20 S. Perez Cadillac F1 Team 11
Cadillac Ferrari 9
+4.132
1'46.658
0.065 S 202.617 21 L. Stroll Aston Martin Racing 18
Aston Martin Honda 9
+4.811
1'47.337
0.679 S 201.335 22 V. Bottas Cadillac F1 Team 77
Cadillac Ferrari 10
+5.764
1'48.290
0.953 S 199.564 View full results
Photos from F1 Azerbaijan GP - Friday
Azerbaijan Grand Prix - Friday
Azerbaijan Grand Prix - Friday
Azerbaijan Grand Prix - Friday
Azerbaijan Grand Prix - Friday
Azerbaijan Grand Prix - Friday
Azerbaijan Grand Prix - Friday
Azerbaijan Grand Prix - Friday
Azerbaijan Grand Prix - Friday
Azerbaijan Grand Prix - Friday
Azerbaijan Grand Prix - Friday
Azerbaijan Grand Prix - Friday
Azerbaijan Grand Prix - Friday
Azerbaijan Grand Prix - Friday
Azerbaijan Grand Prix - Friday
Azerbaijan Grand Prix - Friday
Azerbaijan Grand Prix - Friday
Azerbaijan Grand Prix - Friday
Azerbaijan Grand Prix - Friday
Azerbaijan Grand Prix - Friday
Azerbaijan Grand Prix - Friday
Azerbaijan Grand Prix - Friday
Azerbaijan Grand Prix - Friday
Azerbaijan Grand Prix - Friday
Azerbaijan Grand Prix - Friday
Azerbaijan Grand Prix - Friday
Azerbaijan Grand Prix - Friday
Azerbaijan Grand Prix - Friday
Azerbaijan Grand Prix - Friday
Azerbaijan Grand Prix - Friday
Azerbaijan Grand Prix - Friday
Azerbaijan Grand Prix - Friday
Azerbaijan Grand Prix - Friday
Azerbaijan Grand Prix - Friday
Azerbaijan Grand Prix - Friday
Azerbaijan Grand Prix - Friday
Azerbaijan Grand Prix - Friday
Azerbaijan Grand Prix - Friday
Azerbaijan Grand Prix - Friday
Azerbaijan Grand Prix - Friday
Azerbaijan Grand Prix - Friday
Azerbaijan Grand Prix - Friday
Azerbaijan Grand Prix - Friday
Azerbaijan Grand Prix - Friday
Azerbaijan Grand Prix - Friday
Azerbaijan Grand Prix - Friday
Azerbaijan Grand Prix - Friday
Azerbaijan Grand Prix - Friday
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