George Russell won a dramatic Azerbaijan Grand Prix by 0.196 seconds from Max Verstappen after leading all 51 laps at the Baku City Circuit. The Mercedes driver converted pole into his third victory of 2026 and the eighth of his career — his first start-to-finish win, according to RacingNews365 — as Verstappen closed hard after Valtteri Bottas crashed at Turn 15 on the final lap. Isack Hadjar finished third for Red Bull’s first double podium since the 2024 Chinese Grand Prix, and Kimi Antonelli recovered from 16th on the grid to fifth.

Formula1.com’s race-result page still showed “No results available” at the time of writing. The classification below is taken from BBC Sport (last updated 26 September 2026 at 13:50 UK) and cross-checked with Crash.net’s live coverage, RaceFans’ race report by Keith Collantine, and RacingNews365.

Russell leads from the off as Verstappen climbs

Russell started on used mediums — older by two laps than a fresh set, per Crash.net — and kept the lead into Turn 1. Oscar Piastri, on softs, passed Charles Leclerc (also softs) for second on a clean opening lap. Tyre choices across the grid mixed mediums and softs: Verstappen, Norris, Gasly and several midfield runners joined Russell on mediums, while Hadjar, Hamilton, Bearman and others started on softs.

Hadjar climbed early on the softs. Verstappen, running a fresh power unit from the pool with no grid penalty, surged from eighth to third by around lap 7, picking off Gasly, Hamilton, Norris, Leclerc and then Hadjar. Red Bull told Hadjar that “race time is a priority” as Verstappen came through. Once clear, Verstappen was stuck behind Piastri and radioed that he was “not sure these mediums are very good.” Hadjar, still on softs, asked for a swap or help against the McLaren.

“If Max can’t win this race, I need help with Piastri”

— Isack Hadjar on team radio under the Safety Car (via Crash.net)

Double Aston retirement, then Albon brings the first Safety Car

Lance Stroll retired around lap 9 at Turn 15 — the first retirement of the race. Fernando Alonso followed in the pits around lap 22, completing a double Aston Martin DNF. Out front, Russell’s lead grew to roughly 10–11 seconds before he “nibbled the wall,” glanced a barrier and asked the team to watch his tyre pressures.

The first Safety Car arrived around lap 30 when Alexander Albon locked up into the barrier between Turns 5 and 6 (RacingNews365). Almost the entire field boxed for softs. The order after the stops was Russell, Piastri, Verstappen, Hadjar, Leclerc, Hamilton, Gasly, Antonelli, Norris and Colapinto.

Restart chaos: Colapinto takes out Gasly and Norris

At the restart around lap 36, Verstappen took second from Piastri. Franco Colapinto then locked up diving inside Pierre Gasly at Turn 1 and took out both Gasly and Lando Norris, triggering a second Safety Car. Arvid Lindblad ran into Liam Lawson in the same melee; Lawson spun but continued. Colapinto later received a 10-second time penalty; because he did not finish, Crash.net notes it may become a Bahrain grid drop. Norris, Gasly and Colapinto were all out.

“Man I love getting taken out by my team mate… That’s pretty sick.”

— Liam Lawson after the Lindblad contact (via RaceFans)

The second restart was clean. Hadjar kept pressure on; Piastri locked up at Turn 1 — as Norris had earlier in the weekend — and slipped out of the points to 14th by the flag.

Russell holds on as Bottas crashes on the final lap

In the closing stages Russell kept Verstappen at bay. Crash.net reported Verstappen was noted then cleared for race-director instructions; he also brushed the Turn 16 wall. On the final lap Bottas crashed at Turn 15, bringing double yellows. Verstappen closed suddenly in the scramble that followed, but Russell still took the flag by 0.196 seconds — the precise BBC Sport gap, tighter than Crash.net’s early “by 0.1s” headline but consistent with RaceFans’ “less than two tenths.”

Hadjar’s third place sealed Red Bull’s first double podium since China 2024 and capped his return from a wrist injury. Antonelli lost a place at the start, then used both Safety Cars to climb; he passed Hamilton for fifth on lap 43 but ran out of time to catch Leclerc. Late on, Lindblad passed both Haas cars and beat Esteban Ocon to the line by 0.03 seconds for seventh (RaceFans).

Championship: Antonelli’s lead shrinks to 66

RacingNews365’s standings after Baku put Antonelli on 302 points and Russell on 236 — a gap of 66, down from 81 before the weekend. Hamilton sits on 199, Norris 186, Leclerc 179, Verstappen 163, Piastri 120 and Hadjar 86. In the constructors’ championship Mercedes lead on 538, ahead of Ferrari 378, McLaren 306 and Red Bull 263.