George Russell takes Azerbaijan GP pole after Antonelli shock exit in Qualifying in Baku

By Vancouver Television Sports Desk

George Russell surged through the streets of Baku to claim pole position for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix as Kimi Antonelli suffered a shock exit in Qualifying. The Briton converted Mercedes’ momentum into his fifth pole of the 2026 season, improving lap-by-lap in Q3 to finish with a time of 1m 42.526s, eight-tenths clear of Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc.

Oscar Piastri completed the front three, ending qualifying just 0.001s behind Leclerc. Red Bull’s Isack Hadjar was next in P4, while McLaren’s Lando Norris took P5 despite a lock-up on his final lap that prevented him from finding more time. Lewis Hamilton finished P6 ahead of Pierre Gasly, Max Verstappen and Williams’ Carlos Sainz in P9, with Franco Colapinto rounding out the top 10 for Alpine after a struggling lap in qualifying.

At the other end of the field, Ollie Bearman missed out on Q3 by narrowly missing the cutoff, finishing P11 ahead of Liam Lawson and Alex Albon. Albon said he was not pleased after teammate failure to support him with a tow, while Esteban Ocon took P14 ahead of Racing Bulls’ Arvid Lindblad.

Antonelli’s terminal moment came when his Q1 session ended with contact with the wall at Turn 1, leaving him far behind his rivals in P16. The two Audi drivers both also exited in Q1, led by Gabriel Bortoleto in P17, with Nico Hulkenberg completing the elimination group in P18.

Aston Martin confirmed a grid consequence for Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll: a hefty grid penalty for new power unit components will relegate both to the back row for tomorrow’s start. The penalty will promote Cadillac’s Sergio Perez and Valtteri Bottas to P19 and P20 respectively on the grid, with Aston Martin bringing up the rear.

Russell’s pole places him ahead of Norris, Hamilton, Gasly, Verstappen, Sainz and Colapinto on the Azerbaijan Grand Prix starting order. The race is set to begin at 15:00 local time on Saturday.