A late Safety Car, a blistering restart and a wall-kissing final sector — the Azerbaijan Grand Prix delivered everything and reshaped the championship.
Aziz Karimov
Senior F1 Editor
6 min read
The streets of Baku have a habit of turning a Grand Prix upside down, and the 2026 edition was no exception. With eleven laps remaining, a Safety Car bunched the field and handed the leaders a sprint to the flag that will be replayed for years.
Norris made the restart of his life, using the new manual override mode to slingshot past on the 2.2-kilometre run to Turn 1, then defended for ten laps with millimetre precision through the castle section.
A championship on a knife-edge
Behind him, the battle for the overall lead swung back and forth. Verstappen and Russell crossed the line split by under a second, leaving the two separated by a single point with seven rounds remaining.
Seven races, one point. You couldn't write it better. Every session matters now.
For fans in Tashkent, Baku is the closest race on the calendar — a two-hour flight away — and the Mctoshshi watch party at the club house was packed until the chequered flag.