2026 Azerbaijan Grand Prix Race Review

Linus O'Howell

4 hours ago

5 min read

Russell Holds off Verstappen to Take Victory in Baku

What felt like a foregone conclusion for two-thirds of the Grand Prix came within touching distance of slipping away, as George Russell held off Max Verstappen to win the 2026 Azerbaijan Grand Prix by less than 2 tenths of a second! It was a particularly great day for Red Bull, as Isack Hadjar completed a double Podium on his return from injury!

The Biggest Talking Points

George Russell got off the line perfectly to lead into Turn 1, whilst Oscar Piastri was able to dispatch Charles Leclerc as the even-numbered starters struggled to get off the line well! The early part of the Race was mainly all about Red Bull, with Isack Hadjar and Max Verstappen climbing their way through the field to 3rd and 4th respectively, before Verstappen would overtake Hadjar! However, Max was unable to get close enough to properly challenge Piastri into Turn 1, as questions went on for lap after lap as to whether or not Isack should be let back past in order to try and pass Oscar! After a slower start than perhaps expected, Andrea Kimi Antonelli was finally starting to make his way into the points-paying positions, with him eventually moving up to P8 after a big lock-up by Lando Norris (who was having a pretty torrid time up to this point)! Russell, who was dominating out front, would soon see his 11-second+ lead evaporate as a crash for Alex Albon brought out the Safety Car! Every driver was then able to make their mandatory pit stop, although this favoured Verstappen and Antonelli more than it did Piastri and Hadjar due to the softs working a whole lot better than the mediums!

After at least 5 laps behind the Safety Car, we finally got back going, with Max Verstappen already finding himself past Oscar Piastri as chaos ensued behind! Alpine, who were having a really good day up until this point, saw catastrophe strike as Franco Colapinto completely wiped Pierre Gasly out, with this incident also taking Lando Norris out of the Grand Prix in the process! On top of this, the moment Racing Bulls have been scared about finally happened as Arvid Lindblad collided with Liam Lawson, spinning the Kiwi around! An absolute disaster for all involved, although Arvid somehow managed to get away without receiving a penalty (which literally makes no sense, but okay)! After another Safety Car period, things would turn dire for McLaren as Piastri outbroke himself in his defense for a spot on the Podium against Isack Hadjar, dropping all the way down to the back of the field as, unlike with Lando earlier in the Race, the field was too tightly bunched! All of these incidents would ultimately let Kimi Antonelli up into P6, which he quickly made P5 with a convincing move on Lewis Hamilton, whilst Haas found themselves in the points with both cars! Even Carlos Sainz was in the points; passing Nico Hulkenberg for P10, whilst a penultimate-lap crash for Valtteri Bottas would cause even more chaos for everyone on their final lap! See, not only did Verstappen gain enough time that he finished less than 2 tenths behind Russell at the line, Lindblad’s VCARB was able to out-drag Esteban Ocon’s Haas to take P7 right at the line! In a similar way to both the 2018 and 2021 Azerbaijan Grand Prix’s, it all kicked off at the end!

The Standout Drives in the Race

I’ve given out two 10’s for the 2026 Azerbaijan Grand Prix, and the first one is obviously for George Russell! George’s pace this weekend has been absolutely rampant, but I think the most impressive part of his win today was the fact that Russell didn’t put a foot wrong, even with Verstappen right behind him! Whilst the Championship this year still feels like a long way off, George needs more drives like this moving forward! The other driver I’ve given out maximum points to is Esteban Ocon, and I don’t care that he lost a place to Arvid Lindblad on the line! Esteban drove fantastically today to avoid all of the chaos, with a P8 finish in a Haas being really, really impressive! Elsewhere, both Max Verstappen and Isack Hadjar weren’t far off getting 10’s themselves, with Red Bull earning their first double Podium since China 2024, whilst both Oliver Bearman and Carlos Sainz should be delighted with their first points since Canada! Also, I do want to give a shoutout to Pierre Gasly, as up until his teammate completely wiped him out, Gasly was driving superbly!

Drivers Who Had a Shocker

I’ve given out three 1’s for today’s Race, and the first one is for Valtteri Bottas! It’s one thing being incredibly slow in comparison to your teammate, but for Valtteri to crash on Lap 50 of 51 simply isn’t acceptable! The whole reason for Cadillac’s driver lineup is so they don’t make stupid errors like that! The second driver I’ve given out the lowest possible grade to is Franco Colapinto, and need I say more, really?! Like, it was a terrible mistake to begin with, and that’s without the context that he took out his teammate when Alpine were on for really good points in their battle with Racing Bulls for 5th in the Constructors’! The final driver I’ve given a 1 to is Alex Albon, simply because he crashed on his own! It’s a shame for Albon as he was actually doing alright up until that point! Elsewhere, McLaren had an absolute shocker; Lando Norris had no pace all Race before he was taken out in the Alpine kerfuffle, whilst Oscar Piastri undid all his hard work with a really basic error! Aston Martin suffered a double DNF, so they feature on this list for about the 100th time this season, whilst I cannot believe that Arvid Lindblad didn’t receive a penalty for colliding with his teammate! P7 is a terrific result for Lindblad, so he feels incredibly difficult to grade! And one last thing: if you think I haven’t spoken about Ferrari much in this article, well, it’s because they were completely anonymous!