Russell led every lap in Baku. He won by 0.100 seconds.

26 September 2026 · Azerbaijan Grand Prix

Russell came to Baku 81 points behind his own teammate, needing a weekend where absolutely nothing went wrong. He started first, was 11 seconds clear by lap 29, and was having the kind of afternoon that makes for a very short newsletter.

Then Baku reminded Russell it is a street circuit, and on street circuits safety cars happen.

2 safety cars, back to back (sorry Alpine and Norris). Then Bottas found the wall on the very last lap, which is how a race Russell led from start to finish ended with Verstappen 0.100 seconds behind him.

The Race

Early on, the only entertainment in Baku was Verstappen. He started P8, was P3 by lap 8, and went past Leclerc's Ferrari on the straight as if it were parked.

He caught Piastri, and the fun stopped. For 23 laps, on worn tyres, Verstappen sat right behind the McLaren while Hadjar, by then the quicker Red Bull, sat right behind him. "Is he struggling or what?" Hadjar asked on the radio. Red Bull did not let him through. Nobody, Hadjar included, expected them to.

On lap 30 Albon put his Williams in the wall and out came the first safety car. Everyone has to slow down behind it, so new tyres cost almost nothing, and nearly the whole field dived into the pits at once.

When racing resumed, Verstappen finally got past Piastri. Behind them it went less well. Colapinto braked far too late into the first corner and hit his own teammate Gasly, who was shoved into Norris. 3 cars out, one of them the reigning world champion, and the safety car straight back.

A couple of laps after the second safety car went in, it was Piastri's turn. Running P3, he locked his brakes into the same corner, spun, and fell to P15. An afternoon to forget for McLaren.

That left Verstappen right behind Russell for 10 laps, close enough to be annoying and never close enough to pass. On the final lap Bottas hit the wall and the yellow flags slowed everyone. Russell eased off, and when he floored it again his turbo had switched itself off. No turbo, no power, and Verstappen filling his mirrors.

It turned into a fight all the way to the line. Russell got there first by 0.100 seconds, less time than it takes to blink. We cannot remember the last finish like this.

Elsewhere In The Grid

Antonelli, the championship leader, crashed in qualifying and started P16. He won from P19 at Monza 3 weeks ago. Try that on a street circuit and you spend half the race in a queue, which is exactly what he did.

At the first restart he was sitting right between Gasly and Norris when they collided, came through untouched, and finished P5. Proper damage control: he lost only 15 points to Russell.

Alpine were P7 and P10 before that restart and went home with nothing, having taken each other out. Norris said a crash like that deserved "at least a one-race ban." Colapinto gets a 5-place grid penalty for the next race, the Bahrain Grand Prix.

Baku slept for 30 laps, then crammed a whole race into the last 20. Red Bull put both cars on the podium, and Ferrari, who started P2, finished P4 and P6. Nobody noticed.

Hadjar, back from 6 weeks out with a wrist injury, finished P3 and called it his "first proper podium". His Monaco one this year was handed over by the stewards after Gasly's penalties. This one he drove to.