Official 2026 Azerbaijan Grand Prix Thread ***SPOILERS***

[Piginapoke]

Hi all. After the bore-fest of the Madring (must confess I didn’t even watch the highlights) we’re in Baku. First point of order is the weekend is being run a day early due to Azerbaijan’s remembrance day, so the race is on Saturday.

Although this was the scene of Piastri’s meltdown last year, McLaren and Norris go well here, as do Ferrari and Verstappen. Presumably though circumstances will conspire to give Antonelli another win…..

Williams will bring its long awaited update and new chassis (why did that take 6 months?). My expectations for my team under Vowles are about 0/10.

Here’s to a great race.

Date(s): Thursday 24 to Saturday 26 September 2026

UK Broadcast Timings (and track time)

All sessions are live on Sky F1. Channel 4 is showing highlights of competitive sessions.





2025 Highlights:

https://youtu.be/JntKOmbMI08?si=dExTUGOhGmjYtt6A

Tyres:

Softest compounds



2025 Result:

[Still Mulling]

Thank you, PiaP! Looking forward to this one

[Sandpit Steve]

Is this going to be the worst track of the lot for these power units?

Longest continuous full-throttle of the entire season, with the pits and commentary boxes right at the end of it. Going to be difficult to disguise the downshifts as they go past the Paddock Club. The straight into T3, the other common overtaking spot, is going to be nearly as bad as the main straight.

[Diderot]

Thanks as ever PiaP.

[Josemartinez]

I've gone for Antonelli, he just seems to win them all. Norris is flying atm though.

Unfortunately I think Ferrari will struggle with the main straight compared to Mercedes.

The tow will be massive in quali, how many downshifts on the straight during the race though? Although we won't get onbaords

Looking forward to it, generally a decent race, and I think we will get more than 4 overtakes on the first lap.

[Yetski]

Could be interesting on Friday, currently it's forecast really high winds, and when it gets windy here it gets really windy, especially down the exposed Boulevard.

[thegreenhell]

Presumably security will be very tight here, with it being sandwiched between two separate war zones.

[Sandpit Steve]

thegreenhell said:

Presumably security will be very tight here, with it being sandwiched between two separate war zones.

When the Middle East airspace was closed back in March, pretty much all the flights from Europe to Asia had to squeeze through what became known as “The Baku Gap”, a piece of airspace only around 50 nautical miles wide that avoided the closed routes through Russia, Ukraine and Iran.

Yes one imagines that security will be pretty tight, with the teams and equipment going in on specific charter flights, well-publicised to everyone for deconfliction reasons, and with military escorts.

[DanielSan]

Close one between Mclaren and Mercedes this, most of the track wl aork well for thr Mclaren with slow corners, but theong straight will favour the Mercedes.

Ferrari will find a way to arse it up Verstappen will end up 3rd again

[SchillingTwo]

That bit where they drive both ways on the same bit of track looks a bit dangerous.

[TVR Sagaris]

Voted for Hamilton because it's boring voting Antonelli every week.

[suffolk009]

Voted for Antonelli, hope it's Hamilton or a McLaren.

I expect Max will start moaning on Friday morning about the car and not stop until everyone has gone home.

Anyone fancy a friendly sweepstake on when Stroll sticks it in the wall on race day? I'll take lap 18.

[aterribleusername]

Gone for Antonelli as he seems to be able to win at will right now, plus the Merc should be strong here and he'll have to momentum over Russell

Sandpit Steve said:

Is this going to be the worst track of the lot for these power units?

Longest continuous full-throttle of the entire season, with the pits and commentary boxes right at the end of it. Going to be difficult to disguise the downshifts as they go past the Paddock Club. The straight into T3, the other common overtaking spot, is going to be nearly as bad as the main straight.

Hard to yell but they may well run into deployment issues during qualifying as they will have to use a lot down the main straight to make sure they start the lap at max speed but also keep some back for the T3-4 straight too. It all depends on how much regen they get from the braking zones in T1+2 really. The race could see some interesting tactics for overtakes like using the slipstream to save on deployment down the main straight then full deployment out of T3 to get past and hope they can regen enough before coming back round. It's either going to be a masterclass in energy deployment or a yo-yo artificial borefest for a few laps every time an opportunity comes. There could even be enough room in the main straight for cars to pass, repass then pass again before T1! Either way I expect Croft to go mental throughout any slight action even though we can all predict the outcome.

I hope I'm wrong and we get another good race here but I fear a race full of artificial overtakes as keeping to the perfect lap delta with deployment is going to massively outweigh the disadvantage an aggressive overtake could have.

[CanAm]

TVR Sagaris said:

Voted for Hamilton because it's boring voting Antonelli every week.

Ditto, except I voted for Norris.

[Jasandjules]

The one thing I will guarantee is that we won't get many on board shots down the final straight... Well, maybe up to the DRS. Actually no, battery will be gone before even that line I think..

[Blib]

Lando to win for me. He's driving sublimely this season.

[TheDeuce]

CanAm said:

TVR Sagaris said:

Voted for Hamilton because it's boring voting Antonelli every week.

Ditto, except I voted for Norris.

I voted for Kimi on the basis I think he's most likely to win. Is that not how this works...

[TheDeuce]

Obviously this circuit will expose the nature of the current cars. But given that they will simply not show the second half of the straight, visually most people won't spot the difference I expect. In the tighter sections itlly as impressive and fraught as ever.

Quali should be good. The race will be pretty dire again I think, I doubt there will be much passing. It'll be possible to pass here, but as someone else pointed out, probably simplest to manage the battery to achieve perfect laps and then pass via pit strategy than battle on track. Passing on track full depletes the battery, you then get re-passed... Before you know it you're killing your tyres and probably lapping slower overall than you otherwise could be. Definitely a circuit where it's best to win in the most boring manner possible now.

[Gad-Westy]

SchillingTwo said:

That bit where they drive both ways on the same bit of track looks a bit dangerous.

Got to do something to spice this season up.

[jonysan]

TheDeuce said:

CanAm said:

TVR Sagaris said:

Voted for Hamilton because it's boring voting Antonelli every week.

Ditto, except I voted for Norris.

I voted for Kimi on the basis I think he's most likely to win. Is that not how this works...

Exactly !