F1 Standings and Results After the 2026 Azerbaijan Grand Prix

The Azerbaijan Qualifying Session might have seen George Russell on pole by a shocking 8 tenths of a second, but that was not the highlight of the session. During Q1, the championship leader, his Mercedes teammate, Kimi Antonelli crashed into the wall and was out of the session – ultimately starting in P16.

Just a few weeks ago at the Italian Grand Prix in Monza, Antonelli was able to drive his Mercedes from P18 to win the race... and that result is fresh in everyone's minds. However, by just Lap 5, Antonelli had only made up one place. In the end, thanks to safety cars and crashes in the positions ahead of him, he finished P5.

In the end, after a tight race to the finish after the final safety car, it was George Russell who won the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, but not without pressure. It was a drag race to the line for Max Verstappen, who was separated by 1 tenth of a second at the line. This is a double podium for Red Bull, with Isack Hadjar finishing in 3rd – a triumphant return from his injury.

Albon's Crash Turns the Race into a Sprint

On Lap 31 out of 51, Alex Albon lost control and hit the barriers during his fight with Esteban Ocon's Haas. Due to his location on track and damage to the Tech-Pro barriers, a full safety car was called. The importance of this safety car is that nearly everyone had not pitted yet.

Alex Albon Williams — May 2, 2026; Miami Gardens, FL, USA; Williams driver Alex Albon (23) during the Crypto.com Miami Grand Prix qualifications at the Miami International Autodrome. Mandatory Credit: Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

In theory, this wouldn't be an issue with several drivers solidly free of their teammates... except for Red Bull. The pair of Verstappen and Hadjar had raced next to each other the entire race. Hadjar seemingly returned from his injury to sufficiently push his 4-time world champion teammate. If anything can be taken away from Baku, it's that Verstappen and Hadjar were playing a beautiful team game to maximize points.

Even more importantly, this double stack occurred with Verstappen in the final podium position. Even so, crucially, the gap that George Russell had pulled until this point was 11 seconds over Oscar Piastri in 2nd... and 35 seconds over his teammate, Antonelli, in 8th. With a full safety car, that gap has been neutralized.

Safety Cars Breed Safety Cars?

This phrase isn't often applied to Formula 1 racing in 2026, or even in the current era. However, Azerbaijan is a track that loves to throw a wrench in things.

After the initial safety car, the restart came essentially at the start-finish line. George took the lead, as expected, with Verstappen leapfrogging Piastri into P2; then the chaos ensued.

Lando Norris, McLaren, at the 2025 Formula 1 Italian Grand Prix at the Autodromo Nazionale Monza, Monza. | McLaren Racing

Franco Colapinto locked up into the first turn, swept into his teammate Pierre Gasly, who swept into Lando Norris. This ended the race for Gasly and Norris. To the shock of everyone, at the same time, entirely unrelated to this crash.... Arvid Lindblad locked up into Turn 1 as well. This lockup took out his teammate Liam Lawson – nearly colliding with the same group that crashed just before.

Lawson and Lindblad were able to continue, but both Alpines and Lando Norris were forced to retire their cars in the runoff area of Turn 1.

Chaos on the restart behind Russell 😮

The Alpines have collided and collected Norris at the same time around Turn 1 💥#F1 #AzerbaijanGP | LAP 36/51 pic.twitter.com/w0tYuWrV9D
— Formula 1 (@F1) September 26, 2026

Just two laps after this VSC, Oscar Piastri locked up and was forced to bail out into a runoff area – throwing a local yellow flag and taking him out of the podium positions. This is heartbreaking for Piastri, who was running in 3rd and would have been his first podium since Miami earlier this season.

F1 Azerbaijan Grand Prix 2026 Results

Position	Driver	Team
1.	George Russell	Mercedes
2.	Max Verstappen	Red Bull
3.	Isack Hadjar	Red Bull
4.	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari
5.	Kimi Antonelli	Mercedes
6.	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes
7.	Arvid Lindblad	Racing Bulls
8.	Esteban Ocon	Haas
9.	Oliver Bearman	Haas
10.	Carlos Sainz	Williams
11.	Nico Hulkenberg	Audi
12.	Liam Lawson	Racing Bulls
13.	Gabriel Bortoleto	Audi
14.	Oscar Piastri	McLaren
15.	Sergio Perez	Cadillac
16.	Valtteri Bottas	Cadillac
DNF	Franco Colapinto	Alpine
DNF	Pierre Gasly	Alpine
DNF	Lando Norris	McLaren
DNF	Alex Albon	Williams
DNF	Fernando Alonso	Aston Martin
DNF	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin

F1 Drivers' Championship Standings After the 2026 Azerbaijan Grand Prix

Position	Driver / Team	Points
1.	Kimi Antonelli/ Mercedes	302
2.	George Russell/ Mercedes	236
3.	Lewis Hamilton/ Ferrari	199
4.	Lando Norris/ McLaren	186
5.	Charles Leclerc/ Ferrari	179
6.	Max Verstappen/ Red Bull	163
7.	Oscar Piastri/ McLaren	120
8.	Isack Hadjar/ Red Bull	86
9.	Liam Lawson/ Racing Bulls	59
10.	Pierre Gasly/ Alpine	41
11.	Arvid Lindblad/ Racing Bulls	37
12.	Franco Colapinto/ Alpine	27
13.	Oliver Bearman / Haas	20
14.	Gabriel Bortoleto/ Audi	10
15.	Esteban Ocon/ Haas	7
16.	Nico Hulkenberg/ Audi	7
17.	Carlos Sainz/ Williams	7
18.	Alex Albon/ Williams	5
19.	Fernando Alonso/ Aston Martin	3
20.	Yuki Tsunoda/ Racing Bulls	1
21.	Lance Stroll/ Aston Martin	0
22.	Valtteri Bottas/ Cadillac	0
23.	Sergio Perez/ Cadillac	0

F1 Constructors' Championship Standings After the 2026 Azerbaijan Grand Prix

Position	Team	Points
1.	Mercedes	538
2.	Ferrari	378
3.	McLaren	306
4.	Red Bull	249
5.	Racing Bulls	96
6.	Alpine	68
7.	Haas	27
8.	Audi	17
9.	Williams	12
10.	Aston Martin	3
11.	Cadillac	0

Next week, the F1 World Championship travels to Sepang, Malaysia, to replace the Bahrain Grand Prix. Although the F1 teams will race in Malaysia, the race is still called the Bahrain Grand Prix and the green flag will fly at 3:00 AM ET.

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