Carlos Sainz has been given a five-place grid penalty for Saturday’s Azerbaijan Grand Prix after the stewards found him guilty of failing to slow for yellow flags in Qualifying. Sainz had taken his heavily upgraded Williams to the final Q3 phase and ninth on the grid at the Baku City Circuit, only to be noted for a potential rule breach. After hearing from Sainz and a Williams team representative, and reviewing the range of data available to them, the stewards ultimately deemed that the Spaniard had broken the rules....

Sergio Perez has been handed a penalty for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix after the Cadillac driver was found to have impeded Oscar Piastri in Qualifying. The Mexican, who has won on the streets of Baku twice before, had high hopes on Friday of achieving Cadillac’s best Qualifying result of the season after encouraging pace in practice, but Perez ultimately failed to advance into Q2 and finished P20. But post-Qualifying, stewards investigated an on-track incident where Perez had blocked Piastri while the McLaren driver was on a flying lap....

Oscar Piastri says starting from P3 in Saturday’s Azerbaijan Grand Prix is a “big surprise” after both McLaren cars had appeared to lack pace during practice. Early in Q3, however, Piastri and team mate Lando Norris put in times that saw them provisionally lock out the front row, with the Australian’s best time of 1m 43.364s ultimately just one thousandth of a second off Charles Leclerc in P2. Before Qualifying, the McLaren pair were not really being mentioned in the hunt for pole, having only placed as high as sixth in practice....

1. Russell’s golden opportunity for a third win From George Russell with a huge chance to secure his first win in seven rounds to Kimi Antonelli fighting through the field, and from strong performances from current and former Red Bull drivers to the potential for a race-changing moment, here are five things to keep an eye on as we celebrate a decade of racing around the Baku City Circuit. Given the performance potential of the Mercedes this year, it still feels surprising that George Russell has won just two races so far in 2026....

It was a classic case of mixed emotions for Haas drivers Esteban Ocon and Ollie Bearman after a tight Qualifying session in Baku. Both men were fighting for a place in Q3, a sign of much improved form, and both were left disappointed as they missed out. However, while Bearman saw a glass half full and called the upswing in form “invigorating”, his team mate was left fuming after his final Q2 run was spoiled by a yellow flag....

Mercedes George Russell looked quick again from the off on Friday, as the Mercedes driver went into Qualifying as one of the heavy favourites for pole. He delivered just that, grabbing his first pole since Austria in what was an incredibly dominant performance - gapping the field by over eight tenths of a second. But while there was jubilation on Russell’s side of the garage, there was shock on Kimi Antonelli’s....

Dino Beganovic claimed his second win of the 2026 FIA Formula 2 season, winning the Baku Sprint for DAMS Lucas Oil. The Swede started from third on the grid, but was up to second at the first corner, rounding Laurens van Hoepen on the opening lap. From there, he kept the pressure on Championship leader Nikola Tsolov and eventually cleared the Bulgarian with DRS. Once he had the lead of the Sprint, he gapped the rest of the pack to escape DRS threat and managed a final-lap Safety Car restart to earn his second victory in a row having won the Madrid Feature Race....

George Russell finished fastest in Free Practice 1 ahead of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, the Mercedes driver leading Max Verstappen as Kimi Antonelli’s session was cut short by a mechanical issue. Russell topped the opening one-hour session after posting a 1m 45.387s, leaving him four tenths clear of Verstappen, as Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc completed the top three. A flurry of cars headed out on track once the green light appeared at the end of the pit lane at 1230 local time, with drivers immediately met by a dusty and slippery track surface on the streets of Baku....

Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll will take grid penalties at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix after Aston Martin decided to implement a number of new engine components. Alonso’s car will feature a fresh internal combustion engine (ICE), thereby exceeding the permitted allocation of four across the season. The Spaniard will also receive a new turbocharger (his fifth of the season) and power unit ancillary component (his ninth of the six allowed), further contributing to the incoming penalty....

Mercedes With their punishing walls and tricky layouts, street circuits are bold places to debut extensive upgrades, but a significant number of teams have decided to bring new parts to the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. We’ve rounded up all the details below… Comfortably sitting as both the Drivers' and Teams' Championship leaders, Mercedes haven’t submitted any upgrades this weekend. Similarly, Ferrari are seeking to maximise their current package in Baku. McLaren McLaren are the first of the frontrunners to introduce a wide range of upgrades, with several focusing on flow conditioning....

Rodin Motorsport could not have asked for a better start to their weekend in Baku as they swept both Qualifying sessions with two front-row lockouts. In Qualifying 1, it was Alexander Dunne on top with a 1m 55.383s, as team mate Martinius Stenshorne got to within 0.033s as the team claimed a 1-2. Campos Racing’s Noel León finished in third place ahead of ART Grand Prix driver Kush Maini and Invicta Racing’s Rafael Câmara....

Haas Team Principal Ayao Komatsu claims that an announcement about the team’s 2027 driver line-up will come “within the next couple of weeks”, but that no decision has been made yet regarding Esteban Ocon’s future. Ocon has faced speculation throughout much of the season on whether he would be retained by Haas, with the Frenchman stating ahead of this weekend’s Azerbaijan Grand Prix that he was “definitely a free agent for next year”....

Jamie Chadwick continued her record-breaking motorsport career with a recent test in Williams' 2025 Formula 1 challenger, becoming only the second woman to drive one of the team’s cars after F1 ACADEMY CEO Susie Wolff in 2015. The latest chapter of Chadwick’s 14 years of racing - which has spanned single-seaters, sportscars and championships like W Series and Indy NXT - came in Portimão, where she completed 32 laps of the circuit in the FW47....

George Russell comfortably set the pace during Thursday’s second practice session ahead of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, leading the way from Mercedes team mate Kimi Antonelli and Red Bull’s Max Verstappen. Russell worked his way down to a time of 1m 43.347s with a series of runs on Pirelli’s soft compound tyre, putting him half a second up on championship leader Antonelli, and a further three tenths clear of Verstappen....

The 2026 Formula 1 season continues with the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, where precision and courage are essential for a driver to succeed around the historic streets of Baku. While enjoying the dramatic track action this venue has garnered a reputation for, put your knowledge to the test by playing our new Higher or Lower game, powered by F1 Global AI Partner, AWS, which automatically puts you into a draw to win Grand Prix tickets to a race of your choosing in 2027....

Lando Norris has described his and McLaren’s deficit to the front of the field during Thursday practice at the Baku City Circuit as “a little knife in the heart”, with the team “miles off” the pace as things stand. McLaren endured a disrupted start to the Azerbaijan weekend due to floorboard issues on their upgraded MCL40 through FP1 - Norris and team mate Oscar Piastri losing track time as mechanics worked on a fix....