Russell seals pole-to-flag Azerbaijan GP win as Colapinto wipes out Gasly and Norris

George Russell claimed a commanding pole-to-flag victory at the 2026 Azerbaijan Grand Prix in Baku, beating Max Verstappen to the line for his third win of the season. The race was twice interrupted by safety cars and ended in chaos when Franco Colapinto wiped out both Pierre Gasly and Lando Norris on the lap-36 restart.

Russell had signalled Mercedes’ weekend dominance by taking pole on Friday by eight tenths of a second, and he backed it up in race trim by breaking clear of the field early. Starting on medium tyres while his nearest rivals opted for softs, the Briton found tyre degradation to be a non-factor on Baku’s low-impact street circuit, reducing strategy to a straightforward single stop.

Oscar Piastri initially ran second ahead of Charles Leclerc, but Verstappen and Isack Hadjar — stronger on the straights and with better traction out of Turn 16 onto Baku’s 2km straight — worked their way past Norris and began pressuring the McLaren. Verstappen’s challenge on Piastri stalled as his medium tyres went through a graining phase, leaving Hadjar increasingly eager to attack the McLaren himself.

The first safety car arrived on lap 30 when Alex Albon locked up into Turn 5 and pierced the TecPro barriers, escaping unharmed. Every frontrunner pitted under the stoppage, with Russell retaining the lead from Piastri, Verstappen, Hadjar, Leclerc and Hamilton. Norris, however, ran deep into Turn 1 and dropped to ninth behind Gasly and Kimi Antonelli.

That mistake proved costly when the race restarted on lap 36. Colapinto locked up and speared into Alpine team-mate Gasly, with the impact also collecting Norris and eliminating all three from the race. Antonelli narrowly avoided the carnage to preserve fifth place at the finish.

With the second safety car clearing the wreckage, Russell resumed at the front and held off Verstappen to the flag, extending his lead in what is shaping up as a dominant Mercedes campaign. Hadjar completed the podium, while Piastri fell back to fourth and Antonelli took fifth.