George Russell Dominates Baku Qualifying, Antonelli Suffers Setback

George Russell secured his fifth pole position of the Formula 1 season, dominating the qualifying session for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix in Baku. Meanwhile, his teammate Andrea Kimi Antonelli had a disastrous outing and will start a lowly 16th.

The championship leader exited qualifying midway through the first phase after hitting the wall on the inside of the first corner during his second flying lap. This impact fractured the Italian's front-left suspension, and he was instructed to stop in a safe position, ending his qualifying bid. Despite this error, the championship leader had posted a strong enough time to advance to Q2, but his inability to participate left him 16th on the grid.

Antonelli's absence effectively left Russell unchallenged in the fight for pole. The Briton claimed the top spot with a lap of 1:42.526, an impressive 0.837-second advantage over Charles Leclerc, who will start second. Oscar Piastri completed the top three, with the McLaren driver and Leclerc separated by a mere 0.001 seconds in their battle for second.

Lining up alongside the 2024 Baku winner on the second row will be the returning Isaak Hadjar, back in Formula 1 after an injury layoff. He was the last driver to finish within a second of Russell. Reigning world champion Lando Norris rounded out the top five, with the Briton sharing the third row with his compatriot Lewis Hamilton.

Pierre Gasly qualified seventh, just ahead of Max Verstappen, who failed to put together a clean lap in Q3 and ended up eighth. Carlos Sainz, driving an improved Williams, secured ninth, and he will be joined on the fifth row by Franco Colapinto of Alpine.

Colapinto and Oliver Bearman were separated by 0.092 seconds in the fight for the final spot in the top 10, with the advantage going to the Argentine Alpine driver, who advanced to the decisive pole position shootout. Bearman, meanwhile, finished 11th. Eliminated alongside him after the second 15-minute session were Liam Lawson, Alex Albon, Esteban Ocon, Arvid Lindblad, and, of course, Antonelli.

At the end of Q1, Gabriel Bortoleto finished 0.264 seconds behind Lawson in the battle for the final spot in Q2 and will start 17th, sharing the ninth row with his Audi teammate Nico Hülkenberg. As expected, the Aston Martin and Cadillac drivers were the slowest overall, with Fernando Alonso qualifying ahead of Sergio Pérez, Lance Stroll, and Valtteri Bottas.

However, due to penalties, Alonso will start from the very back of the grid, directly behind his teammate Stroll. Pérez and Bottas will form the tenth row for the Cadillac team.

The Azerbaijan Grand Prix, the 15th round of the 2026 Formula 1 season, is scheduled for tomorrow at 2:00 PM Bulgarian time and can be followed live on Sportal.bg.