George Russell took a big risk but won in Baku; Charles Leclerc finished just off the podium. Kimi Antonelli staged a great comeback.

George Russell claims his third win of the season in the 2026 F1 World Championship in Baku: The British Mercedes driver won the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, leading the race virtually from start to finish, despite the field bunching up due to the safety car being deployed following Alex Albon’s (Williams) crash on lap 31.

Behind Russell were the two Red Bulls: Max Verstappen finished second, giving Russell quite a scare in the final corner, while Isack Hadjar rounded out the podium, ten seconds behind. Fourth place went to the first of the two Ferraris, driven by Charles Leclerc, who edged out an excellent Kimi Antonelli in the final stretch; Antonelli managed to bring his Mercedes into the top 5 despite starting from 16th on the grid.

Lewis Hamilton’s other Ferrari finished in sixth place after a rather uneventful race. Finishing in the points, between seventh and tenth place, were Arvid Lindblad (Racing Bulls), Esteban Ocon (Haas), Ollie Bearman (Haas), and Carlos Sainz (Williams), with the latter doing well to outpace Nico Hulkenberg’s Audi in the final sprint.

Fifteen drivers crossed the finish line: in addition to the German Audi driver, the following drivers failed to score points, finishing in 12th place or lower: Liam Lawson (Racing Bulls), Gabriel Bortoleto (Audi), Oscar Piastri (McLaren—whose race was marred by a mistake on lap 40 while he was in fourth place), and Sergio Perez (Cadillac).

There were seven retirements: Valtteri Bottas (Cadillac) due to a crash on the final lap, Franco Colapinto (Alpine) due to a crash at the restart, Lando Norris (McLaren) and Pierre Gasly (Alpine), both involved in the pileup caused by the Argentine driver, Alex Albon (Williams), who crashed into the wall, and Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll due to technical issues with their respective Aston Martins.