Max Verstappen was perfection personified in the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. Not only did the Red Bull driver win the race from pole position, he also led all 51 laps and set the race fastest lap, to secure his sixth Grand Slam. In this discipline, it puts him level with Lewis Hamilton in second place behind Jim Clark on eight. This was Max’s second Baku win to add to the one in 2022, his fourth of the season, and the 67th overall. It was win number 126 for Red Bull Racing, its fifth at this track.
George Russell (Mercedes) finished second, to record the 22nd podium finish of his career, his sixth this season. Carlos Sainz was third, the Spaniard’s first top-three result with Williams. The English team has not had a podium finish since the 2021 Belgian Grand Prix. It had previously finished third in Baku in 2017 courtesy of Lance Stroll.
THE DAY ON TRACK
For the start, the field was fairly evenly split between those opting for the Medium (11 drivers) and the Hard (9). The longest stint was down to Esteban Ocon (Haas) who drive 49 laps on the Hard. He had to stop on lap 1 to change a broken front wing, taking on Mediums, before pitting almost immediately again for another set of Hards, with the aim of going all the way to the flag with no more stops, which he did.
Lando Norris (McLaren) and Lance Stroll (Aston Martin) both drove the longest stints on the Medium, completing 37 laps.
MARIO ISOLA – PIRELLI DIRECTOR OF MOTORSPORT
“On this track, a one-stop has always been an almost mandatory strategy and today was no exception, even though we brought a softer range of compounds than last year. Additionally, the fact it was cooler than usual helped the teams and drivers manage thermal degradation, particularly on the rear axle.
“As a result, it was a very straightforward race in terms of tyre behaviour. The Medium and Hard were very close in terms of performance and also in terms of degradation which was practically non-existent on both compounds. The C4 saw the most use (598 laps, 61.84%) and the Soft never put in an appearance. After last night’s rain, the track surface reset itself a bit and therefore actually evolved significantly over the course of the race. Ahead of us we now have another 2026 tyre development test session. On Thursday 25th and Friday 26th September, Ferrari and Haas will support us for one day each at the Mugello circuit, working on a programme focussed on defining the hardest compounds in the range.”
Jak Crawford (DAMS Lucas Oil) took an important win, in the closing stages having to fend off the attentions of Joshua Duerksen (AIX Racing). Starting from pole, the American lost the lead at the start, but at the restart following a Safety Car period he retook the lead to go on and win. Leonardo Fornaroli (Invicta Racing) finished third but a ten second penalty dropped him to fifth, promoting Dino Beganovic (Hitech TGR) to the podium in third place. In the Drivers’ standings, Fornaroli still leads on 189 points, followed by Crawford (169) and Luke Browning (Hitech TGR) on 161.
