The McLaren Mastercard Formula 1 Team endured a very difficult Azerbaijan Grand Prix, leaving Baku without points after a race in which both drivers experienced unfortunate events. On a circuit that typically rewards staying clear of trouble, the team was unable to keep Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri out of the action, bringing a disappointing weekend to a frustrating conclusion.
The car proved difficult to drive throughout the weekend, with a lack of straight-line speed leaving both drivers in the race exposed and operating at the limit around the demanding Baku City Circuit. The Soft tyre also performed more strongly than the Medium compound in the race, adding to the challenge, especially for Lando in the first half, and the team will now review the weekend in detail, learn from the setbacks and focus on responding in Malaysia.
Both MCL40s made strong starts, with Oscar moving into P2 and Lando into P4. Lando soon came under pressure due to the team's straight-line speed deficit, losing positions to Isack Hadjar, Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton before settling into P7. Late in the opening stint, he ran into the Turn One runoff and flat-spotted his tyres, prompting a pit stop just as the Safety Car was deployed following Alex Albon's crash. He rejoined in P9 and made a strong restart, gaining ground around the outside, but was caught in a collision between Alpine drivers Pierre Gasly and Franco Colapinto on the inside, which sent him into the barriers at Turn One and ended his race.
The retirement was especially frustrating given Lando's opportunity to recover. Having managed the Medium tyre for the opening 30 laps, he switched to the stronger Soft compound and was well placed to attack the Medium-shod cars ahead at the restart.
The team split the starting strategies, with Oscar beginning on the Soft compound. A strong launch moved him into P2, where he absorbed early pressure from the Red Bulls before settling into a consistent rhythm. His pace through the castle section allowed him to build enough of a margin to defend despite the straight-line speed deficit, and a well-executed stop under the Safety Car kept him in position.
At the restart, Oscar struggled to bring the Medium tyres up to temperature and lost a place to Verstappen. He held position at the second restart, but later ran into the Turn One runoff and flat-spotted his tyres while defending his position from Hadjar, dropping to the rear of the bunched field. Although he recovered some ground, the resulting vibrations and the need to manage the brakes prevented him from returning to the points.
It was a very disappointing afternoon, but the weekend still provided useful learning. The upgrades introduced on the MCL40 performed as expected and the car showed competitive pace at stages. The team will use the data gathered in Baku to understand the setbacks and prepare for Sepang, a circuit whose characteristics should be better suited to the car.
Andrea Stella: "Leaving Baku with zero points is a difficult result to accept, but it is a responsibility we must take as a team. We made life too difficult for our drivers today. We were exposed by fundamental limitations of our package: too much drag, not enough top speed on the straights, and not enough pace in the corners which forced our drivers to spend the race defending rather than progressing.
"Because of this Lando and Oscar were under constant pressure and ultimately led to them being caught up in unfortunate events. We need to provide them with a car that is more predictable and raceable, allowing them to focus on attacking rather than constantly defending.
"We see Baku as a one-off circuit and now look to the future with optimism. The upgrades worked as intended and added lap time, but the circuit's characteristics meant we needed a bigger step to see a clear impact, and we lost a couple of parts in the crash. Despite the outcome, there are still some positives to take away. Oscar drove a brilliant race up until the front tyre lock up, showing the fast and precise driver we know he is. We still have lessons to learn though, mainly for the team, and our focus is now on addressing our top-speed issues to ensure we are in a position to fight for the win in Malaysia."
George Russell claimed victory in the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, securing the eighth win of his Formula One career and his third victory of the 2026 season. Team-mate Kimi Antonelli recovered from P16 on the grid to finish P5, making impressive progress through the field after his Q1 exit in qualifying.
George converted pole position into the race lead at the start and controlled proceedings throughout a race shaped by multiple Safety Car periods. The opening stages saw the field neutralised following an incident with Alex Albon at Turn 1, with subsequent Safety Car interventions creating several race restarts and strategic decision points. George managed each restart effectively, maintaining track position and pace at the front to build the platform for victory.
Kimi capitalised on the interruptions and alternative strategies to move through the field, combining strong race pace with decisive overtaking to secure a top five finish.
George took the chequered flag ahead of Max Verstappen and Isack Hadjar, while Kimi recovered to P5.
Bradley Lord: It's been a really impressive weekend from George, he simply hasn't put a foot wrong. He hit the ground running in FP1 and set the pace from then on. Even with the way the Safety Cars and restarts unfolded, he managed everything that was thrown at him and delivered a race that was completely error free, even with Verstappen breathing down his neck in the final stint. Around Baku, that's easier said than done.
Today's race was always going to be a different challenge for Kimi. With the limited running he had through the weekend, it was important that he didn't come into the race thinking it was Monza Part Two and trying to force the issue. Instead, he drove the race that was in front of him, showed a really good grasp of the bigger picture, and recovered well to P5. That was an impressive performance in its own right.
It's a great way for the team to start this demanding triple-header. We've scored strongly with both cars, executed well throughout the weekend, and given ourselves a solid foundation heading into the next race. Malaysia is a special event for us given our title partnership with PETRONAS, and we'll take the learnings from this weekend, keep working hard, and look to maximise our performance again next week.
Andrew Shovlin: Congratulations to George and the team on a fantastic victory. He has been quick throughout the weekend and converted a brilliant pole position into an assured race win today. The Safety Cars kept things interesting and there was pressure at each restart, but George managed the race superbly and delivered when it mattered most.
Kimi also did an excellent job to recover from P16 on the grid to finish fifth. After yesterday's disappointment, he stayed focused and made the most of the opportunities that came his way. His pace was strong throughout the race and he worked his way through the field with several decisive overtakes.
The Safety Cars meant there was little opportunity to relax at any stage of the race, particularly for George at the front, but both drivers handled the challenges well and extracted the maximum from the opportunities available to them.
We've had a competitive car from the first laps in Baku and it's pleasing to have converted that pace into a strong result. George was in control throughout the race, while Kimi's recovery drive demonstrated both the pace of the car and his determination after a difficult qualifying session. We leave Azerbaijan with good momentum and plenty of positives to take into the next event.
Laurent Mekies: "It was an incredible race from Max, Isack and the whole Team. We finished just one tenth away from the win after 51 laps, secured P2 and P3, in what has been true teamwork to match Mercedes' pace throughout the race, and confirm the progress we are making. The upgrades clearly worked, and a big thank you goes to everyone on both the chassis and PU side, here at the track and back at the factory, for extracting even more from the package.
It was another excellent drive from Max. He has been flying from the first practice session onwards and it was hard to accept missing the chance to fight for Pole yesterday and starting only P8. But with our typical fighting spirit he came back and passed the others in front on track before his final challenge with George. Isack has had an outstanding weekend since coming back from injury and has taken even another step forward. He raced very cleverly and managed the car perfectly to deliver the best possible result for the Team. It was undoubtedly his best race with us so far, and he finished third on merit and pure pace.
At the beginning of the season, when we were about a second off the pace, this felt very far away, but we are competing at the front now, at least here in Baku. Overall, this has been our best weekend of the season. The whole Team has worked very hard for this double podium, and it is the result of a collective effort from everyone involved."
Scuderia Ferrari HP leave the Azerbaijan Grand Prix with 20 points to consolidate its second place in the Constructors' Championship, courtesy of Charles Leclerc finishing fourth and Lewis Hamilton sixth.
Charles and Lewis both started on Soft tyres. When the lights went out, Leclerc suffered wheelspin and was passed by Oscar Piastri, which dropped him to third place. In the early stages, both SF-26s struggled for grip and were overtaken by Max Verstappen and Isack Hadjar, while Lewis also had to cede a place to Lando Norris. After around ten laps, the pace of the SF-26s improved and on lap 17, Hamilton managed to retake sixth place ahead of the McLaren driver. The team took advantage of the Safety Car triggered by Alex Albon's accident on lap 30 to stage a double pit stop, putting both drivers on Medium tyres. Ten laps later, Piastri ran wide at Turn 1, allowing Charles and Lewis to move up to fourth and fifth respectively. On lap 43, Hamilton was passed by Andrea Kimi Antonelli, dropping to sixth, a position he held until the chequered flag.
Scuderia Ferrari HP now focuses on preparation for the next round of the championship, the Bahrain Grand Prix, which takes place next Sunday at the Sepang circuit in Malaysia.
Fred Vasseur: We knew before coming to Baku that this could be a difficult weekend for us, particularly because of our expected performance deficit on the long straights. Of course, starting from P2 with Charles, we wanted a better result. Our single-lap pace was good yesterday, but today we were missing a couple of tenths per lap compared to our competitors, which was too much.
There are certainly things we could have done better this weekend, and we need to understand them and improve.
On the positive side, in terms of the Constructors' championship, we extended our advantage over McLaren, but we need to keep pushing and focus on doing a better job at the next race.
James Vowles, Team Principal: "Well done to the team. It's been a mammoth effort to bring the update that we have here this weekend and it's nice to walk away with a point, a singular point, but a point all the same, in what was a very topsy-turvy weekend and race. Well done to Carlos. You can see we didn't have the pace on that first stint, and we need to dig and understand that because that was a critical part of the race where we weren't able to make progress. With Alex really well done as he held onto that starting position; just unfortunately a late brake combined with a wind gust ended his afternoon. But Carlos was there and ready to pick up points. We've got the first of a triple header done now; there's lots to do in front of us but it's nice that we've now got a package that's at least in the mix. Let's see what we can do over the next few races."
Alan Permane: "It was quite a race for us today and, honestly, we were fortunate to come away with the result we have. We were able to capitalise on the opportunities that presented themselves throughout the race, and to come away with six points for the team is a really positive outcome from a challenging weekend. We've had a tougher-than-usual weekend in terms of performance, but the cars certainly performed better today than they have done across the rest of the weekend. That gives us another set of data to analyse and learn from as we look to understand where we can improve. I'm looking forward to returning to Malaysia next week. It's a physically demanding race for the drivers, particularly with the high temperatures and humidity, so preparation will be key. We'll take the learnings from this weekend with us and focus on arriving in Malaysia in the best possible shape to put together a strong performance."
"There was not a huge amount to fight for today with our pace on this circuit. Lance's race ended early on lap eight with a water pressure issue and we asked him to stop the car. Fernando reported suspected PU issues and was losing some time on the straights before he retired on lap 20. We will analyse and regroup in time for our visit to Sepang next week."
TGR Haas F1 Team finished with Esteban Ocon eighth and Ollie Bearman ninth at Round 15 of the 2026 FIA Formula 1 World Championship, the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, held Saturday at Baku City Circuit.
Ocon started from 13th on the grid on Pirelli P Zero Red soft tires and maintained position through the first stint, before being passed by the recovering Kimi Antonelli. Ocon pitted on lap 30 for Yellow medium tires, during a safety car phase caused by Alex Albon's crash, and resumed in 13th place, before moving up to eighth as a melee unfolded ahead at the restart. Another safety car period followed, after which Ocon slotted into seventh when Oscar Piastri ran wide. Ocon defended seventh resolutely but was just pipped to the line in a photo finish by Arvid Lindblad - the Frenchman earning four points for eighth at the checkered.
Bearman took the start from 10th, also on soft tires, and lost a couple of positions, before re-passing Albon and Liam Lawson. Bearman, after being passed by Antonelli, stopped under the safety car for medium tires, and cycled through to ninth during the post-restart drama. That became eighth when Piastri went wide, before he was demoted by Lindblad, crossing the line in ninth place to collect two points.
The result marked the first double points finish of the 2026 season for TGR Haas F1 Team.
TGR Haas F1 Team occupies seventh overall in the Constructors' Championship, now on 27 points.
Ayao Komatsu, Team Principal: "It's an amazing result for everyone's hard work. It's been a long time coming, and it just goes to show, when times are tough, if we just stick together, we can solve the issues and improve the car. While the car wasn't competitive, we've been working on our operations - so today when the car was competitive, everyone was spot-on. Pit stops, strategy, tires - I'm really proud of everyone in this team - and I want to congratulate them."
Audi Revolut F1 Team missed out on points at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, the opening race of a triple-header, with Nico Hulkenberg running in P10 until the closing stages.
Both drivers produced clean, patient drives on a circuit where the team's lack of straight-line speed made overtaking and defending difficult. Nico held a place in the top ten before Carlos Sainz closed in and passed him on Baku's long straight, while Gabriel was unable to make significant progress through the field. The team now heads to Sepang for the Bahrain Grand Prix, where it will continue to optimise the new package introduced this weekend.
Allan McNish, Racing Director: "Our plan was always to go long and be ready to take advantage of any Safety Car: that helped us run in the points towards the end of the race, which would have been a small reward for all the effort the whole team put in overnight to fight back from a difficult qualifying. We did come close, but always knew this track would not fully suit our car. We leave Baku disappointed, but ready to go again in Sepang in a week's time, a track whose layout should better suit our car."
Flavio Briatore: "Obviously I'm extremely disappointed with the outcome of today's race, knowing we lost valuable points in the Championship fight. These sort of incidents shouldn't happen, particularly when we were running well with both cars in point-scoring positions. I feel very sorry for the team and for Pierre who did a great job all weekend and my apologies also go to Lando [Norris] and McLaren for ruining their race. I know that Franco has taken full responsibility for it, as he should; in fact he braked far too late considering the context of the race and the safety car restart. It was a very poor move for a driver of his experience. I want to take time to reflect on it and consider what course of action should be taken, so we can learn from it and avoid such a situation in future."
The Cadillac Formula 1®? Team continued to build valuable experience in its debut season at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, with Checo Pérez finishing P15, while Valtteri Bottas suffered an issue with his car on the final lap, ending his race.
Pérez delivered a strong drive to bring his MAC-26 home in P15, staying with the pack throughout the race and demonstrating the progress being made in closing the gap to the cars ahead. With Pérez completing another race distance, the team gained valuable data as it continues to develop its package.
Bottas had been running towards the back of the field when an issue with the car caused him to crash at Turn 15 on the final lap. The team will investigate the technical issue further to understand the cause. Despite the disappointment of the late retirement, the weekend provided another opportunity for the team to learn and develop as it continues to make steady progress through its inaugural season.
Marcin Budkowski, Team Principal: "It took a while for the race here in Baku to come alive but when it did it was a really interesting race. On our side we are a little bit disappointed after qualifying yesterday and today's race but the fact that we are a bit disappointed is a good sign. We spent most of the race fighting with other cars - especially Checo who had a really strong weekend having good battles with our rivals. It was a real shame for Valtteri not to see the checkered flag after a long race - we will need to investigate that technical issue and get on top of it. We can take encouragement from Baku as extra motivation going into Malaysia next weekend."
George Russell won the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. The Mercedes driver secured victory by the narrowest of margins over Max Verstappen, who finished second. Isack Hadjar, team-mate to the four-time World Champion, completed the podium on the very weekend that Red Bull confirmed his seat alongside the Dutchman through to 2027.
During the opening stint, Russell managed to build a significant gap over the chasing pack. However, after two Safety Car periods, Verstappen fought his way back into second place. From that point onwards, the Red Bull driver piled pressure on the Briton, remaining consistently within a second of the lead. In the end, Russell held firm and kept Verstappen behind all the way to the chequered flag, crossing the line just one tenth of a second ahead.
The pair finished the race on the Soft compound after starting from the grid on the C4, while Hadjar opted for an alternative strategy, beginning the race on the C5 and finishing on the Medium. All three podium finishers took advantage of the first Safety Car period to make their pit stop.
The entire field used a combination of the two softest compounds, with 12 drivers opting to start on the Medium and 10 on the Soft. The C4 and C5 were used almost equally throughout the race, with 49% of laps completed on the Medium and 51% on the Soft.
Kimi Antonelli, who finished fifth, retains the lead of the FIA Formula One World Championship standings on 302 points. Thanks to this victory, Russell has significantly reduced the gap and now trails his team-mate by just 66 points.
Dario Marrafuschi: "Today's race largely confirmed our pre-race expectations. The Soft and Medium compounds proved to be the most effective choices, to the extent that the grid was split almost evenly between the two options at the start, regardless of starting position, with some teams differentiating tyre selection between their drivers. Many teams attempted to extend the opening stint in the hope of benefiting from a race neutralisation, a scenario that ultimately materialised.
From a tyre behaviour standpoint, the extremely low degradation observed over the previous days was once again evident during the Grand Prix. Both the C4 and C5 displayed very low wear levels, with no significant graining, allowing drivers to maintain a strong pace for most of the race.
In these conditions, the Soft provided an advantage in terms of grip and driver confidence, particularly noticeable on a demanding circuit such as Baku, to the point that it proved to be the most competitive race tyre. A clear example was provided by the two Red Bull drivers who, despite having identical machinery but opposite strategies, saw the driver on the red-marked tyre deliver the stronger performance.
Overall, drivers were able to push from start to finish with very limited tyre management, focusing mainly on bringing the front axle back into the operating window after the various restarts following neutralisations, in order to avoid lock-ups and braking errors, incidents that nevertheless still occurred. The Hard compound, meanwhile, played no role in the race, as the performance of the other two compounds never made a more conservative option necessary."
