BAKU – George Russell poked the embers of his fading championship fight with a peerless weekend in Azerbaijan, while Franco Colapinto seriously blotted his copybook.
Here is PlanetF1.com’s full list of winners and losers from the 2026 Azerbaijan Grand Prix.
Winners and Losers from the 2026 Azerbaijan Grand Prix
Winner: George Russell
Russell’s life may have been made easier by Kimi Antonelli’s qualifying mistake on Friday, but the British driver looked the quicker driver throughout the whole weekend.
He was untouchable in the race, pulling away in the first half without any challenge from behind, before soaking up the pressure from Max Verstappen in the final laps.
From the biggest pole margin of the season, to the smallest win margin of the season as Verstappen threw everything at him on the final straight, Russell’s performance was the sort of peerlessness that many – this writer included – predicted to be much more regular in 2026 than has proven the case.
“I’m very proud of the resilience that I and my close group of engineers have shown during the tough periods this year because there’s been a lot of hard work to overcome some of the challenges, to adapt my driving style to suit this new car better,” Russell said afterwards.
“And F1 is so tough, you don’t get opportunities to practice this, and finally it’s coming to me a bit more intuitively than it once did, and I’m gaining confidence.
“And especially on circuits like this, it just allows you to eke out that little bit more on the brakes, get that little bit closer to the walls, and it’s been a flawless weekend.”
Antonelli’s race was also worthy of being a ‘winner’, as he recovered to fifth place to mitigate quite a bit of the damage he did to his weekend by crashing on Friday.
His race was notable in its quietness, with no hints of desperation about his drive as he sought to bounce back from his first significant wobble of the year.
With the title in sight, the pressure is on to ensure there are no further slip-ups, and Russell acknowledged that, being 66 points behind, it is he who is the position of having nothing to lose.
“There’s much less pressure on me than there is him,” he said.
“As I said yesterday, he’s had an incredibly flawless season. Yesterday was probably his first mistake of this whole season in a proper session, qualifying, race, and he still came home in P5 today.
“I didn’t really consider myself in this fight for a number of races, purely because my performance wasn’t strong enough. Now I feel like if the season were to have started today, or since the summer break, I feel very much I would have been able to fight.
“Now I’ve got this big deficit. It can change quick. So I’m not chasing that. I’m chasing to win every race, and what will be, will be.”
It may be a too little, too late, but it’s not over until the fat lady sings, as they say, and Russell has shown that he’s not giving up without a fight.
Loser: Franco Colapinto
One of the heroes of Madrid was brought back down to earth in the most harsh of fashions in Baku, as the Argentine driver committed the most egregious of sins by taking out his teammate, and Lando Norris, in a mistake of gargantuan proportions.
Let’s start with the kindnesses: Colapinto was clearly on the pace in Baku and, right behind Gasly, was again eyeing up a very decent points finish in the closing stages of the race.
Also, in the aftermath, Colapinto displayed his class and humility by immediately owning his mistake, taking responsibility as he spoke to the media, and made a point of going around individually apologising to every member of his team: an appropriate response to single-handedly annihilating Alpine’s pending points haul on a day where Audi and Racing Bulls were off the boil.
But a classy reaction doesn’t neutralise the extent of Colapinto’s error, which, given the closeness of the midfield fight for fifth place in the Constructors’ Championship, could yet end up costing the Alpine-based squad millions of dollars in prize money, let alone the costs for repairs and parts replacements.
“A big mistake, I locked up completely with tyres and brakes, and was out of control completely,” a rueful Colapinto said afterwards.
“Sorry. Not a lot to say more than sorry to the team, to Pierre, of course, to the factory. I’ve been working really hard to score points and threw it away with that big mistake. So very sad for the team, of course, big disappointment. So yeah, not much more than that.”
Colapinto may be taking the right attitude by not attempting to shirk responsibility, but the Argentine has now incurred the wrath of the team’s leader, Flavio Briatore, who has historic form for dumping drivers without mercy if he sees fit, such as Roberto Moreno in 1991, Jos Verstappen in 1994, Jarno Trulli in 2004, and Nelson Piquet Jnr. in 2009.
Briatore is understood to be furious with Colapinto, and his implied threat in “the next course of action” he will take ranges from anything from a verbal reprimand to something as extreme as him being stood down for Malaysia – sources have indicated nothing can be ruled out at this point, as Briatore mulls it over.
Colapinto, an exceptionally friendly and engaging character, also comes with baggage by way of a small but extremely vocal segment of his fanbase that has now established itself as exceptionally abusive and nationalistic, which has also resulted in a vicious cycle of other driver’s fanbases responding, proactively as well as reactively, with toxicity of equal venom and unacceptability.
It’s led to Alpine having to issue multiple statements decrying the abuse which, on this occasion, has been levelled at Lando Norris for his comments calling for a race ban for Colapinto, with the Argentine also being subjected to similar abuse in response.
This escalation of toxicity across F1’s social media sphere, including the deluge constantly raining down on Alpine, is understood to be viewed as highly unpleasant from within the team, while some top-level sources have suggested that Colapinto’s fanbase is in danger of creating a situation that is “career-ending” for him, if Briatore feels the negatives start to outweigh the positives.
This would be harsh on Colapinto, who is caught in the unwilling position of being the face of a fandom who appears unwilling to understand the issues being caused by its attitude, unable to hit out too hard for fear of those same followers turning on him.
His massive improvement in 2026 pales in comparison to the prospect of his backing not being enough to convince Briatore that it’s all worth it.
Does the Renault Group or the other shareholders (whoever they may be in 2027), as well as Gucci and other prominent team sponsors, wish to be associated with the constant flow of hatred?
With Briatore having already threatened to withdraw Colapinto from media interview opportunities with his home media even before the weekend, the Baku weekend can only have put the driver on thin ice.
At a time where he is starting to prove himself on track, the events of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix couldn’t have been much worse.
Winner: Isack Hadjar
Max Verstappen put in a stellar race to get himself in the mix on the less effective medium tyre, before stalking Russell relentlessly after the Safety Car, with the duo pulling away from Hadjar as they moved onto the soft tyre for the dash to the chequered flag.
But it’s Hadjar’s performance that was a particular stand-out, having started on the soft tyre and leading Verstappen on track following his outqualifying of the Dutch driver on Friday (even if circumstances did come into play with Verstappen’s power unit).
He didn’t make life difficult for his illustrious teammate in the opening stages, moving aside to allow the four-time F1 World Champion through to attack Oscar Piastri, keeping up with the duo and even appearing the quicker man as Verstappen started to struggle with the medium tyres.
While Hadjar fell away from the leading Russell and Verstappen in the closing stages, this was due to having swapped to the medium tyre, and, having put in a stellar race on his comeback in his first race since Budapest, was about as enthusiastic as he allows himself to be.
“I must say I came back at the right time in terms of an injury point of view and, at the same time, in terms of what the car is capable of,” he said.
“You know, the way I left the car in Budapest, I was not really satisfied, and coming back after a couple of races, definitely made a step.
“So, yeah, definitely happy about that. And in terms of the approach, I took it really slowly, the whole weekend, because it’s a demanding track to come back to. I don’t want to be in the wall.
“It’s a tough track to come back to. The approach was great. It brought me to that P3. I can’t really do much better than that.”
Team boss Laurent Mekies was effusive in his praise, saying, “I think it was outstanding what Isack has produced this weekend. Really outstanding.
“At first, the most important thing is that he felt straight away good in the car, no pain. Even without pain, it’s not an easy track to go back to because of the no margin for error, and he has been building up his rhythm, session after session, very calmly with a lot of energy, a lot of positive energy.
“Yesterday [qualifying], to stick the car in P4 was already a very, very strong result. I think today the sort of race pace he has shown on the medium, on the soft, is something that we had not seen before.
“So on the weekend of his return, he has raised the bar again.”
Rewarding Red Bull’s faith in him following his contract renewal, Hadjar’s podium place had Mekies highlighting almost every aspect of his drive: from sheer pace, to his calmness on the radio, to his teamwork dynamic with Verstappen.
“We say to each other very often that we have seen him adding something to the business every time he was going out on the track in the first part of the season,” he said.
“He is continuing to do that, and on top of that, allow me to say he also raced extremely cleverly with Max, very very disciplined with his tyres, and he told us to have a very very strong teamwork between them two, between the pit wall, and ultimately produced the best result possible.”
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Loser: Lando Norris and McLaren
With McLaren’s MCL40 less happy on circuits with long straights, the Baku weekend was an off-colour one for McLaren but, in particular, for Norris.
Starting on the medium tyre, he struggled for pace as he was picked off by the two Red Bull drivers and Lewis Hamilton.
But Turn 1 proved his nemesis as he first ran wide into the corner as he locked up under braking at the end of his first stint, before his eventual retirement against the barriers after the restart; he was blameless in the collision triggered by Colapinto’s dive.
“I had no chance out there with just the speed I had,” he gloomily summed up afterwards.
“I know I’m sure there were some things I wasn’t doing well enough in driving, and needed to see what I can improve for next time.
“But, at the same time, the speed that they came past me.. it was impossible. So it was a pretty impossible task, actually.”
Piastri put in a tremendous first half of the race as he kept the two Red Bull drivers at arm’s length, revealing that he’s started to figure out how to get more laptime out of the car, even if he doesn’t necessarily feel more comfortable behind the wheel.
But the chances of a podium finish vanished when his good work was undone by a similar mistake as Norris into Turn 1, costing him valuable positions after the Safety Car.
“I need to look because it was a bit weird just locking up both fronts instantly like that,” he explained.
“I didn’t think I did anything spectacular. Obviously, I was on a different line to what I normally would be defending.
“So I don’t know if I was on a crown in the road or something, but it certainly was a surprise to me.”
Like Ferrari, the momentum of a potential resurgent championship challenge has faded away in the face of Mercedes’ consistency and Red Bull’s chipping away of its performance deficit.
While the MCL40 is clearly a potent machine, perhaps the outright second-best machine on the grid, there is a lack of flow to McLaren’s efforts.
Winner: Esteban Ocon & Haas
With the usual midfield runners all enduring difficult races for various reasons, it was Haas who capitalised on the opportunity to score some decent points and improve its position in the Constructors’ Championship relative to Audi – the team Bearman believes Haas is now fighting.
On a weekend where it emerged in the paddock that Esteban Ocon has been informed of Haas’ decision to part ways with him for next season, the French driver put in a super drive that serves him well at a time when he has to put himself in the shop window for any potential opportunities that arise.
Running the softs, Ocon swapped to the mediums under the Safety Car and picked his way through the melee to move up to seventh. While he fell victim to Arvid Lindblad right at the end, it was the only ‘what if?’ of his race, and he took the opportunity to plead his case for a seat elsewhere.
“When the car is working, that’s what we deserve,” he said.
“We had a strong car since the beginning of the weekend. We took all the right decisions. It’s been a really really good race.
“I’m really happy with the result, and I think it gives just good positive vibes for everyone to move forward.
“I’ve raced with everyone out there, and I’ve always been on par or I’ve won every championship that I’ve raced with.
“I won races in Formula Renault. I won championships in go karts. I won Formula 3. I won GP3. I was racing in the top 10 in DTM for half the season. I won in Formula 1. I can do it, I’m one of the best out there, and I’m not afraid to say it.”
Bearman was similarly strong, losing out to Lindblad after the restart, before coming home in ninth right behind his teammate.
As for Haas itself, there were no signs of the aero parts consistencies that have plagued the American squad throughout the season, with Bearman saying, “To be honest, this is the first weekend that we had the cars performing equally, which is a great feeling.
“So that’s really, really positive. I don’t think we exactly understand why, but I can say that, since we put the update on the car, it’s been a lot more comparable between cars.”
Loser: Audi
Audi’s showing up with a heavily revised R26 was a surprise; while updates were expected, the outright scale of them was not, and signals a firm statement of intent from Mattia Binotto’s squad as it embarks on its head-down path of performance-seeking and correlation-acquiring focus.
But, while the updates did yield the expected aerodynamic gains that it hoped for, the car’s performance wasn’t enough to get into the top 10 all weekend, particularly on Saturday, although senior sources have indicated that it is nothing to do with the updates taking the car in the wrong direction.
Instead, the issues appeared to be in keeping the car and tyres in optimal temperature ranges, with the Audi particularly affected by rapidly cooling down while travelling along the straights, meaning Gabriel Bortoleto and Nico Hulkenberg arrived at corners with a lack of confidence.
As expected, the power unit weakness exacerbated this, with Bortoleto bemoaning the lack of straight-line speed afterwards, but revealed, encouragingly, his happiness with the car’s performance through the twisty bits of the second sector.
Racing director Allan McNish explained it afterwards, saying, “Where we had our speed and where we didn’t have our speed was the most compromising position because we were quick all the way through from [Sector] One through until onto the straight, and then, from there, we struggled a little bit.
“So, unless we were really close by, then they came past us.”
Nico Hulkenberg produced a strong drive to challenge for P10 after Audi ran long with the aim of benefitting from a Safety Car, but was caught and passed by Carlos Sainz as the Williams enjoyed greater straight-line speed.
On a day where six cars retired, Audi might have hoped for more than P11 and P15.
Winner: Carlos Sainz
Having made it into Q3 before a grid penalty dropped him back to the lower half, Sainz’s medium tyre opening stint wasn’t anything spectacular as he slipped down to P17, but his race came alive after the Safety Car as he swapped to a second set of soft tyres.
Having been behind Alex Albon through the opening stint as the British-Thai racer battled with Esteban Ocon, Sainz capitalised on the reset race to catch and pass Hulkenberg.
Aside from the points finish, it was a positive weekend overall for Williams, whose updated FW48 appeared to have taken a small step forward, even if Sainz felt there had been no consistency from the car across the weekend.
“Today, I had a difficult race in terms of pace,” he said.
“The pace I had on Friday and yesterday was not in the car today, and we probably need to analyse why.
“But even with less pace, we managed to do a very good restart at the Safety Car and pass a couple of cars through just being a bit smart and managed to get a point out of it.
“But the pace today there’s something there to analyse because I was not very happy in the race.”
Loser: Arvid Lindblad
Yes, it is a bit strange to put someone who brought home a great result in the Losers column, but Lindblad was no less innocent than Colapinto in committing The Sin That Must Not Happen.
His perspective on the lunge that wiped out Liam Lawson was that Ocon had moved under braking, although replays suggest that Lindblad may have spooked himself as there was no movement to suggest Ocon had wavered in his line; either that, or Lindblad simply completely misread the situation.
“I was going to make the move on Esteban, and he moved in the last minute,” he said.
“Basically, moved under braking, so I had to take avoiding action, which meant I locked the front slightly, and I hit Liam.
“So obviously, I apologised to him already. I apologise to the team because it’s not something you want because there could have been two of us in the points today.”
Going on to finish P7 made up a little of the faux pas of wiping out Lawson, whose press officer could be heard acknowledging his anger as she accompanied him to the media pen; Lindblad chose to make a public apology to Lawson in front of the cameras while both were in the pen.
If Lawson was seething, he didn’t show it in that scenario; the very public nature of the approach meant that, if he did have words to say to Lindblad, he wasn’t going to do it in front of the cameras, and he also didn’t criticise his teammate beyond pointing out the extent of the damage he picked up in the needless collision: Lawson’s floor had been damaged by the strike.
Lindblad was fortunate in the sense that it was his teammate he took out, which is proving to have a precedent for the stewards in not taking action in such a case; the rookie was very lucky not to be given a penalty that would have ruined his points finish and would have meant his mistake was only marginally less serious than Colapinto’s in what was, quite literally, the other big teammate battle.
Loser: Aston Martin
The brief moment of mid-season positivity has passed, with Aston Martin suddenly struggling with reliability once again as it has suffered two double retirements in the last three rounds.
Having taken a new engine for the weekend, an oil leak was a concern on Thursday as Fernando Alonso sat out most of FP2, but Honda’s Shintaro Orihara confirmed that the new engine is “healthy” after a change of component following FP3.
The Spaniard was retired from the race with a suspected power unit issue, having had an “anomalous” lack of power down the straights, while Stroll retired with a water pressure issue.
“There’s not much positives right now, maybe no positives”, was Stroll’s terse summary.
For the sake of all of those working at the Silverstone-based squad, 2027 has to show signs of improvement; a season of non-stop depression in terms of performance and reliability like this surely can only be beaten with ease if Honda’s next offering is better, and Adrian Newey and Enrico Cardile ensure the team isn’t starting on the back foot with the chassis.
While Stroll sees no positives, chief trackside officer Mike Krack does: he revealed that the upgrades brought to Baku did yield some performance gain, by way of lightening the car down to what is now very close to the weight limit.
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