George Russell fights back and threatens Antonelli
The Azerbaijan GP, held on Saturday (09/26), altered Kimi Antonelli’s status as the favorite. With a renewed fighting spirit, George Russell took pole position, led from start to finish – resisting the pressure from Max Verstappen – winning the race and setting the fastest lap. Red Bull surprised and took the podium with Max Verstappen (2nd), the ‘Driver of the Day’, and Isack Hadjar (3rd). Gabriel Bortoleto was 15th. The next round of the 2026 F1 World Championship will be the Bahrain GP, scheduled for the Sepang circuit in Malaysia next weekend.
With Antonelli starting 16th (the driver crashed in Q1), Russell made a great start, pulling away from the battle for the remaining positions. Oscar Piastri, with a great chance of making the podium in Baku, spun and went off track. Lando Norris ended up being taken out of the race by a clumsy maneuver from Franco Colapinto (who also took out Pierre Gasly). For the ‘strike’, the Argentine will drop 5 grid places in the race in Malaysia. Meanwhile, refusing to let himself be overtaken by teammate Isack Hadjar, Verstappen advanced from 8th on the grid to 2nd place in the race. In the final laps, Max went decisively for the win – which would be the team’s first this year – but Mercedes was unbeatable.
Hadjar communicated over the radio that he was faster than Max. The Dutch driver, however, stayed ahead. The team didn’t even have the courage to ask him to make way for Isack.
The Audi team struggled at the Baku circuit with a lack of engine power. Gabriel Bortoleto liked the car’s balance and, if the engine had performed better, he could have entered the points zone. Bortoleto finished 13th, but was penalized by ten seconds (overtaking under yellow flags) and dropped to 15th place. Nico Hulkenberg was 11th.
The gap between Antonelli and Russell dropped to 66 points. Regarding Lewis Hamilton, the distance is 103 points. On the other hand, Mercedes now has a 160-point advantage over Ferrari and 232 over McLaren. In the 15 races held so far, Mercedes has won 11 compared to Ferrari’s 2 and McLaren’s 2. The dominance of Toto Wolff’s team, at the moment, is absolute.
Formula 2 – Rafael Câmara, with a victory, turned the tables and overtook Bulgarian Nikola Tsolov for the championship lead, after the 3 races held in Baku. The competition would still have two more rounds ahead – Qatar and Abu Dhabi – which are still pending confirmation (the decision should be made by the F1 Singapore GP). Câmara did not score points in the sprint, but finished 4th in race 1 and won race 2. Emmo Fittipaldi also did not place in the sprint and finished race 1 in 12th and race 2 in 16th. In the championship, Câmara has 207 points and Tsolov 200. Irishman Alexander Dunne is 3rd with 189 points. Emmo Fittipaldi is 36th with 28 points. Rafael Câmara, from Recife, is the favorite to take Esteban Ocon’s seat at the Haas F1 team in 2027. Ocon has already been informed that he will not remain with the squad next season.