Norris leads Piastri 14-6 in qualifying duels as 2026 F1 season reaches Azerbaijan

Lando Norris has extended his qualifying edge over McLaren team-mate Oscar Piastri to 14-6 across all sessions — 9-6 when sprint qualifying rounds are excluded — following the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, the latest instalment in the 2026 Formula 1 season’s running team-mate battle tracker.

Norris’s advantage is built on a series of narrow margins at the sharp end of the grid, though Piastri was credited with a technical issue during Q3 in Baku, where he finished fifth in qualifying to Norris’s third. That caveat aside, the Australian has struggled to match his team-mate’s one-lap pace across the majority of weekends this season.

At Mercedes, George Russell and rookie Kimi Antonelli are locked at 10-10 overall — 7-8 in favour of Antonelli when sprints are removed — a remarkably even contest given the experience gap between the two drivers. Antonelli’s Azerbaijan qualifying ended in a heavy crash in Q1, leaving him 1.889 seconds adrift and handing Russell a straightforward win in that round.

Max Verstappen leads Isack Hadjar 12-4 at Red Bull across all sessions, with the Dutchman’s dominance particularly pronounced in conventional qualifying at 8-4. Hadjar was unable to set a lap time in Q1 in Baku after going off, ending his involvement before it began. Verstappen also holds a perfect 4-0 record over former team-mate Liam Lawson, who was replaced mid-season.

The Ferrari pairing of Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton sits at 10-10 overall, with Hamilton edging 8-7 in standard qualifying rounds. The two have traded blows throughout the season, with margins frequently tight — Canada saw both drivers separated by just 0.072 seconds in Q3, while Barcelona produced a dead heat in grid positions.

These head-to-head records are compiled using qualifying results only, meaning grid penalties applied after the session do not affect the standings. Where a driver was unable to post a representative lap time due to a mechanical failure or on-track incident, that context is noted against the relevant round.