Mercedes’ George Russell dominated qualifying to claim pole position for the 2026 Azerbaijan Grand Prix.
Russell finished FP3 in second behind Max Verstappen but rebounded to dominate all three segments of qualifying to claim his fifth Grand Prix pole of the season, in a session in which his title rival was eliminated in Q2 – having suffered an incident in Q1 which prevented his participation in the former segment.
FP3
A quiet opening lull saw nobody venture out in the opening three minutes before Alpine’s Pierre Gasly was the first driver to hit the track on medium tyres, and the Frenchman laid 1m 50.582 as the initial benchmark which he eventually lowered twice to 1m 47.714 in the 16th minute.
Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton then Charles Leclerc went quickest in the 21st minute with 0.604 seconds splitting the Scuderia pair, as Leclerc sat fastest on 1m 45.564 on the soft tyre.
Verstappen briefly went fastest on the medium tyre in the 26th minute on 1m 45.329 but Hamilton went 0.236s quicker on 1m 45.093 to sit fastest at the halfway mark, moments before Andrea Kimi Antonelli posted 1m 45.046 to go quickest on his medium tyres.
Russell too was on the medium tyres and posted 1m 44.715 in the 32nd minute to top the opening long-run stint ahead of the soft-tyre qualifying simulations.
The Brit then lowered his benchmark time on his first soft-tyre flying lap to 1m 44.177 before he found a further 0.156s on his second flier on the soft tyres to lower the benchmark to 1m 44.021.
Verstappen with just over two minutes left topped the session with 1m 43.922 ahead of Russell by 0.099s, whilst Hamilton benefitted from a mega slipstream tow to surge to third and 0.111s off the Dutchman.
| Position | Driver | Team | Time |
| 1 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | 1m 43.922 |
| 2 | George Russell | Mercedes | + 0.099 |
| 3 | Lewis Hamilton | Ferrari | + 0.111 |
| 4 | Andrea Kimi Antonelli | Mercedes | + 0.351 |
| 5 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | + 0.622 |
| 6 | Pierre Gasly | Alpine | + 0.715 |
| 7 | Oscar Piastri | McLaren | + 0.824 |
| 8 | Lando Norris | McLaren | + 0.977 |
| 9 | Isack Hadjar | Red Bull | + 1.254 |
| 10 | Franco Colapinto | Alpine | + 1.670 |
| 11 | Carlos Sainz | Williams | + 1.683 |
| 12 | Oliver Bearman | Haas | + 1.770 |
| 13 | Gabriel Bortoleto | Audi | + 1.932 |
| 14 | Esteban Ocon | Haas | + 1.996 |
| 15 | Nico Hulkenberg | Audi | + 2.076 |
| 16 | Sergio Perez | Cadillac | + 2.082 |
| 17 | Alex Albon | Williams | + 2.154 |
| 18 | Liam Lawson | Racing Bulls | + 2.300 |
| 19 | Arvid Lindblad | Racing Bulls | + 2.349 |
| 20 | Fernando Alonso | Aston Martin | + 2.590 |
| 21 | Valtteri Bottas | Cadillac | + 4.665 |
| 22 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin | + 5.357 |
Qualifying
Q1
Bearman was first out on track but it was Bottas who laid 2m 00.401 as the initial benchmark but once everyone set representative lap times, Hadjar headed the order on 1m 44.702 from Hamilton.
The bottom six meanwhile comprised of; Hulkenberg, Gasly, Alonso, Bottas, Stroll and Albon.
Antonelli meanwhile clipped the inside wall of the first corner just over ten minutes into the segment and was forced to park up down an escape road, which curtailed his qualifying session.
Verstappen and Russell briefly traded fastest laps mid-session which the former four-time champion won out with 1m 44.041 in the 15th minute, after the pair initially were split by just 0.002s.
Russell however responded with 1m 43.615 in the penultimate minute to top Q1 from Verstappen.
At the checkered flag, Bortoleto and Hulkenberg were knocked out in 17th and 18th positions ahead of Alonso, Perez, Stroll and Bottas, although Alonso and Stroll start on the back row after power unit changes.
Q2
Sainz was the first driver out onto the circuit and set an initial lap time of 1m 54.603 ahead of Albon, which he lowered to a more representative 1m 44.849 lap time.
Verstappen however found 0.567s to go faster but Russell posted 1m 43.686 to head Leclerc and Norris, whilst the Dutchman slipped down to seventh in the order as the track began to create more grip.
Alpine meanwhile opted to run in the gap and once their drivers registered a representative lap time, the bottom six comprised of: Colapinto, Ocon, Albon, Lawson, Lindblad and Antonelli, who was unable to participate after his crash in Q1.
As the checkered flag fell, Colapinto escaped elimination at the expense of Bearman who qualified 11th ahead of Lawson by 0.085s, whilst Albon, Ocon, Lindblad and Antonelli were also eliminated.
Russell meanwhile posted 1m 43.462 on his final flier to top the segment from Verstappen.
Q3
Russell was first on track and set 1m 53.262 as the initial unrepresentative benchmark, which he soon lowered to 1m 43.713 but Norris then Piastri further lowered the benchmark to 1m 43.571.
Verstappen and Sainz slotted into fourth and fifth as only five drivers opted for an early Q3 stint, whilst Leclerc, Hadjar, Hamilton, Gasly and Colapinto opted to do their first flying laps in the middle phase of the segment.
Once the latter quintet set their first lap times, the order was; Piastri, Norris, Russell, Verstappen, Sainz, Hadjar, Hamilton, Colapinto, Leclerc and Gasly.
Russell however produced 1m 43.037 with just over three minutes left on the clock to put himself in a confident position to claim pole, which he sealed in the final moments with 1m 42.526 ahead of Leclerc by 0.837s as the Monegasque pipped Piastri to second by 0.001s.
Hadjar qualified fourth on his return from a wrist injury ahead of Norris, Hamilton, Gasly, Verstappen, Sainz and Colapinto.
| Position | Driver | Team | Time |
| 1 | George Russell | Mercedes | 1m 42.526 |
| 2 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | + 0.837 |
| 3 | Oscar Piastri | McLaren | + 0.838 |
| 4 | Isack Hadjar | Red Bull | + 0.974 |
| 5 | Lando Norris | McLaren | + 1.146 |
| 6 | Lewis Hamilton | Ferrari | + 1.332 |
| 7 | Pierre Gasly | Alpine | + 1.521 |
| 8 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | + 1.555 |
| 9 | Carlos Sainz | Williams | + 2.040 |
| 10 | Franco Colapinto | Alpine | + 2.437 |
| 11 | Oliver Bearman | Haas | 1m 44.775 |
| 12 | Liam Lawson | Racing Bulls | + 0.085 |
| 13 | Alex Albon | Williams | + 0.226 |
| 14 | Esteban Ocon | Haas | + 0.241 |
| 15 | Arvid Lindblad | Racing Bulls | + 0.331 |
| 16 | Andrea Kimi Antonelli | Mercedes | No Time |
| 17 | Gabriel Bortoleto | Audi | 1m 45.799 |
| 18 | Nico Hulkenberg | Audi | + 0.121 |
| 19 | Fernando Alonso | Aston Martin | + 0.794 |
| 20 | Sergio Perez | Cadillac | + 0.859 |
| 21 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin | + 1.538 |
| 22 | Valtteri Bottas | Cadillac | + 2.491 |