Azerbaijan Grand Prix: Formula One 2026 – stay
Key occasions
Lap 43/51: That didn’t take lengthy! Antonelli is previous Hamilton and into fifth. There’s a 3.5 second hole to Leclerc in fourth, which is probably not insurmountable.
Antonelli now has his sights on Lewis Hamilton. He’s proper on the Ferrari’s tail … absolutely he’ll get previous him at some stage.
Lap 42/51: This is now a perfect scenario for George Russell in his quest for the planet championship. He’s out in entrance – although must see off Verstappen within the subsequent 9 laps – and Antonelli remains to be down in sixth, although the Italian deserves credit score for making up a lot floor.
Lap 41/51: The stewards have famous numerous incidents, which occurred in these restarts after the security automobile was out. It’s possible that Colapinto shall be in bother for inflicting Gasly and Norris to crash out.
The McLarens haven’t loved their weekend in Baku, have they? Norris out; Piastri now P15 after that.
Lap 40/51: Verstappen is true into Russell’s slipstream down the straight – oh and Piastri locks up making an attempt to defend from Hadjar and finds himself out of the factors utterly! The Australian has misplaced a great deal of locations there.
Lap 39/51: Russell holds off Verstappen on the restart, however the Red Bull of Hadjar is pressurising Piastri. Doing one thing just like Lewis Hamilton is Kimi Antonelli. The Red Bulls and the Mercedes have the pace proper now.
We’re racing once more, once more! Right, can Verstappen problem Russell for the victory?
With the security automobile about to finish (once more), right here’s how the highest 10 at present seems:
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Russell
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Verstappen
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Piastri
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Hadjar
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Leclerc
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Hamilton
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Antonelli
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Ocon
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Bearman
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Lindblad
Lap 38/51: To affirm: Gasly and Norris be part of Alonso, Stroll and Albon in being confirmed DNFs on this race. Somehow Colapinto is ready to stick with it, though he wants a pit cease with Lawson additionally OK to proceed, though he misplaced just a few positions.
Replays present Colapinto slide into his Alpine teammate Pierre Gasly, who in flip hit Norris, who was making an attempt to get across the outdoors of the duo. That’s very unlucky for Norris, actually. He had nowhere to go.
Liam Lawson was additionally concerned in a crash, hit by his teammate, Lindblad.
Norris out of the race
The yellow flag is being waved once more after that crash, which appeared to have concerned Norris. Goodness me, a nightmare for the reigning planet champion, who’s seen strolling over the monitor and is automobile is picked up by restoration autos.
Lap 35/51: We’re again below racing circumstances after a spell of weaving to get warmth on the tyres and Verstappen jumps Piastri and climbs into second.
Oh goodness, there’s a little bit of a collision in the course of the pack. But the massive beneficiary there may be Verstappen, who’s now proper on Russell’s tail.
Safety automobile ending! Here we go …
Lap 34/51: It advantages Russell and Mercedes as these laps with the security automobile nonetheless out tick down.
The restoration group are nonetheless clearing issues up after Albon’s crash and the security automobile remains to be out. Hopefully we get again to racing quickly, as a result of I feel it could possibly be fairly thrilling. Patience.
Top 10 because it stands after 33 laps:
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Russell
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Piastri
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Verstappen
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Hadjar
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Leclerc
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Hamilton
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Gasly
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Antonelli
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Norris
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Colapinto
A reminder than Stroll, Alonso and Albon are all OUT of the race as DNFs.
Lap 32/51: They’re all again out onto the monitor and the pack have closed up, with Russell’s big lead just about gone. It may make for an thrilling finale to the race.
OK, Verstappen and Hadjar are pitting, a double stack from Red Bull. Piastri additionally pits.
This goes to be chaotic when all of the vehicles emerge to jostle for place …
Antonelli rapidly pits and will get the smooth tyres on; Lando Norris does the identical after his lockup. Who will profit from this security automobile and can we get a purple flag?
We shall discover out quickly. The high six nonetheless haven’t pitted, however Mercedes could convey their race chief Russell in shortly.
Yellow flag: Another large incident – Alex Albon has smashed into the wall and there’s a yellow flag sign on the market now. Safety automobile time …
Oh no, what’s occurred to Lando Norris? A giant lockup from the McLaren has him spinning in circles on the straight – he’s misplaced positions, taken a giant knock to the tyre and might want to field quickly.
Lap 29/51: Leclerc is miles behind Hadjar, so the Red Bulls have third and fourth locked up. They may afford to convey their guys into the pit lane.
Why don’t Red Bull merely convey Verstappen into the pit lane, given his tyre issues? Yeah … I don’t know.
“The softs can clearly do half the race,” vents Verstappen on the radio.
Lap 27/51: Verstappen is once more having to defend some assaults from Hadjar. “Can I’m going for it, or what?” is the – very related – query from the Frenchman, who is suggested to “preserve it clear” by group engineers.
George Russell is about to lap the back-marker, Valtteri Bottas, which reveals how a lot faster his Mercedes is than these groups in the back of the grid. It’s now a 10-second lead for the British driver, a cushty day for him, though he’s simply revealed he “nibbled” the wall on a latest flip. Shouldn’t be an excessive amount of of a difficulty.
Lap 24/51: Hadjar nonetheless seems speedy and in higher form than his Red Bull teammate, Verstappen, though the Dutchman remains to be forward in third.
Norris, like Verstappen, seems wanting pace on the medium tyre and is languishing in P7.
Lap 22/51: So, 20 drivers and 10 groups stay on this race and we’re not far off the midway mark.
Oh pricey, it’s not a pit cease for Alonso, the veteran driver is OUT of the race altogether. A double DNF for Aston Martin and a nightmare weekend for them, with main automobile points.
Carlos Sainz within the Williams is the primary driver to go for the pit lane. Will that set off others to do the identical? We’ll see – Alonso can be pitting.
Lap 20/51: “Tell him to maintain pushing,” says Hadjar to the Red Bull engineers.
