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# Everything we learned from F1's 2026 Azerbaijan Grand Prix
- URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/everything-we-learned-from-f1s-2026-azerbaijan-grand-prix/
- Published: 2026-09-27T06:38:06.000Z
- Updated: 2026-09-27T06:38:30.000Z
- Description: Aside from the chaos, Baku also revealed a lot about teams' form and prospects heading into the 2026 F1 run-in
- Author: The Race Team
- Tags: Formula 1, #primary_homepage_feature, #franco-colapinto, #alpine, #ferrari, #mercedes, #kimi-antonelli, #racing-bulls, #arvid-lindblad, #liam-lawson, #audi, #aston-martin, #mclaren

The reigning world champion calling for another driver to be banned, two different team-mate collisions and the closest finish since 2002 - Formula 1's 2026 Azerbaijan Grand Prix certainly delivered the drama we've come to expect from Baku. 

Here's everything we learned from the weekend…

## A bad day for F1's penalty system

Many of Lando Norris's peers did not share his view Franco Colapinto deserved a race ban for the accident he caused at the first safety car restart in Baku - and neither did the stewards.

A five-place grid penalty for Malaysia (in lieu of just a 10-second time penalty in the race as Colapinto did not finish) was all the stewards saw fit to give the Alpine driver.

The FIA wants to focus on punishing the offence rather than the outcome. Still, five places is something of a light touch, especially as licence penalty points have gone out the window this year.

There's been an overcorrection from the FIA after wanting to ease back on some of the silly things penalty points were given for previously. Now, causing a collision alone is not considered worthy of them. Generally, it must be dangerous or deliberate.

That undermines the purpose of a system designed to punish repeat offenders with an automatic one-race ban if they get 12 penalty points in a 12 month period. Few could argue that if Colapinto did that three times (at four penalty points a pop) a suspension would be merited.

And a bad day for F1's penalty system was compounded by Arvid Lindblad being completely exonerated for his own poor driving at the same restart, when he clattered into Racing Bulls team-mate Liam Lawson and was lucky not to wipe one or more cars out of the race.

Letting Lindblad off the hook was meekly justified as being a result of the knock-on effect of the Colapinto crash ahead. Nothing really supports this watching back replays and onboards.

A more likely explanation is the old, unofficial ‘the stewards don't usually get involved with team-mate-on-team-mate collisions' policy. Sometimes it happens but not here, perhaps again helped by some lap-one (restart) leniency. **\- Scott Mitchell-Malm**

## ...But Alpine might take its own action

Colapinto knows what the FIA's doing to punish him for the pile-up, but the open question coming out of Baku is what *his own team* will do.

The extremely strong comments about Colapinto from de facto team boss Flavio Briatore and the hanging threat of "I want to take time to reflect on it and consider what course of action should be taken" were deliberately placed in the team's official press release rather than being blurted out mid-anger in a TV interview. This was a considered message that Briatore and Alpine wanted to make sure Colapinto, and the F1 world, took on board - and our understanding is Briatore's anger at the incident is as strong as his press release phrasing implies.

It's the constructors' championship battle damage that hurts. Alpine had the edge on fifth-place rival Racing Bulls this weekend and was on course to trim its deficit to six points. Now that gap is up to 15 instead.

Alpine actually fulfilling Norris's wish and giving Colapinto its own race ban is extremely unlikely, and we wouldn't anticipate any kind of internal financial penalty either.

It feels more likely this is intended as a strong warning, perhaps one that will be followed with some form of official internal 'yellow card' and a hint that if there's a next time then the consequences could be as strong as a suspension.

But this is Briatore, so you never know. If nothing is said publicly, expect plenty of questions to Alpine and Colapinto in Malaysia next week about what's gone on behind closed doors. **\- Matt Beer**

## Mercedes about to move goalposts again

Mercedes ended a four-race run without a pole position with George Russell's dominant turn in Baku, where its car and engine package was clearly the class of the field.

The all-round strength of the W17 and the 2026 Mercedes power unit was on full display as Russell thrived through the city's twists and turns, then had just enough to keep Max Verstappen at bay even with a prodigious tow and the extra benefit of the overtake mode behind him in the final stint. "Our car has been working exceptionally well on the low-drag circuits," Russell said.

Mercedes' rivals traded places in the pecking order yet again in Azerbaijan as Red Bull came to the fore, Ferrari slipped back, and McLaren had a mixed weekend (then a terrible result). The championship leader continues to be strong, or strongest, everywhere - and it's about to shift the goalposts again.

A significant Mercedes aerodynamic update is coming for the next race in Malaysia, with which Russell said "we're hoping to make a bigger step to the rest of the field".

But that's not all. We're still waiting for Mercedes' upgraded engine to appear - and that's now due at the United States Grand Prix next month, giving Russell and Kimi Antonelli an even sharper weapon to fight with during the run-in. **\- Scott Mitchell-Malm**

## Ocon is going down swinging

While his replacement is yet to be signed, Esteban Ocon effectively knows his time at Haas is over. 

He's lost the battle to convince Haas to stick with him beyond their initial two-year agreement and the team's likely to opt for a fast rookie (F2 points leader Rafael Camara is the favourite) to replace him. 

But even if that is almost a foregone conclusion, it's not going to stop Ocon from going down swinging. He's determined to prove he still deserves to stay in F1, even if his chances of finding a vacancy elsewhere for 2027 look minuscule. 

It's why Ocon was furious after qualifying on Friday when he felt an ill-timed yellow flag cost him a place in Q3; "It's different race weekend, same s\*\*\*".

He drove brilliantly to recover in the grand prix, diving down the inside of Lawson on the restart, then pulling off a bold move on his team-mate Ollie Bearman just one corner later.

Ocon knew that was his chance to get ahead and be the Haas driver with the biggest points total at the end of the race. 

His eighth place is only his third points finish of the season; "I can say I deserved that, not all the rest of this year."

His final answer to written media after the race was telling of his mindset right now.

"I've raced with everyone out there, and I've always been on par, or I've won every championship that I've raced in," Ocon said.

"I've won races in Formula Renault, I've won championships in go-karts, I've won Formula 3, I've won GP3, I was racing in the top 10 in DTM for half a season, and I won in Formula 1\. 

"I can do it, you know? I'm one of the best out there, and I'm not afraid to say it." **\- Josh Suttill**

## Ferrari's losing its car advantage 

As Ferrari's biggest 2026 advantage has been eroded away, it's still been hamstrung by its biggest disadvantage. 

Despite the ADUO 2 update introduced at Monza, Ferrari's engine is not on the level of the Mercedes or Red Bull, and that was exposed across Baku's 2.2km (1.4-mile) flat-out run. 

"With the situation that we are in with the engine, we are losing one position per lap, and then we lose the path of the race," team boss Fred Vasseur explained.

"The biggest limitation is that when you are in this situation and you want to defend, you go in a kind of negative spiral, perhaps to try to run a bit lower downforce than is optimum, because you need to defend and you are losing laptime, and it's quite often this kind of spiral. We had a similar case in Monza."

It means Charles Leclerc's second place on the grid was something of an overachievement on Friday.

As Vasseur explained, Ferrari can't properly address its main deficit until 2027 while rivals have been able to take lumps out of any chassis advantage it might have. 

"There is also a kind of convergence on the chassis; you can improve much quicker than with the engine," Vasseur said.

"There is a kind of convergence of performance on the chassis that you don't have on the engine."

Ferrari still has chassis upgrades to unleash this season, but it's not going to have F1's best package until it's able to make significant improvements to its power unit. **\- JS** 

## The key Audi weakness upgrade couldn't solve 

Audi brought its first major upgrade package since the Austrian Grand Prix at the end of June, but that was never going to solve the key issue that limited it to a frustrating weekend. 

The chassis upgrade worked as expected and delivered more performance, but Nico Hulkenberg and Gabriel Bortoleto were hamstrung by a familiar weakness in Baku. 

"We need more top speed, simple as that. But we didn't have it today and this weekend, I think that's a bit of the story of the weekend," Hulkenberg said.

Team-mate Bortoleto said "the pace was actually very promising in the race" compared to a double Q1 exit on Friday, but "we were super slow on the straights". 

He added: "\[I was\] 0.2 seconds from Liam for like five laps, and I couldn't overtake him at the end of this straight.

"I couldn't be closer than that. But it is what it is. We were lacking with this the whole weekend. It's not news, but we go for the next one." 

It meant Audi couldn't capitalise on the restart chaos, and its deficit to seventh-placed Haas has bloomed from four to 10 points in the constructors' championship.

Much like Ferrari, Audi will have to wait until 2027 to make a step with its power unit, but the upcoming tracks should at least suit it more than a punishing Baku circuit. **\- JS** 

## Hadjar's immediately 'paid' Red Bull back

Isack Hadjar started his first F1 weekend in two months with the knowledge he'll be sticking around at Red Bull in 2027.

And in the words of team boss Laurent Mekies on Saturday post-race: "We wanted to reaffirm how much we were confident in his current and future progress with the team…and I think he paid us back."

Hadjar did so with arguably his strongest weekend in the senior team so far, especially given the context of having missed the last three races.

He felt it was the "first time with the team that I actually get to do a very clean weekend" and Mekies felt Hadjar had set a new standard for himself.

"It was outstanding what Isack has produced this weekend, really outstanding," Mekies said.

"To stick the car in P4 \[in qualifying\] was already a very, very strong result. \[Then\] 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. 

Mekies was particularly impressed with how Hadjar handled what could have been a tense situation in the race as he ran right behind team-mate Max Verstappen, praising Hadjar for racing "extremely cleverly with Max". 

Asked about Hadjar's radio messages, including informing the team he was happy to stay behind Verstappen if it was best for the result, Mekies said: "It shows you how cleverly the kid is racing, and how much brain capacity he is developing while in the car, and how much emotional control he is managing to have.

"It's indicators of steps he has made in all these areas, on top of producing more speed." **\- JS**

## Antonelli's human!

It speaks volumes for Antonelli's outstanding season that Baku featured his first genuinely consequential mistake since his round one practice crash. After looking absurdly composed and fast, and though it was all coming so easily in 2026, this new and improved Kimi is human after all.

He won't be feeling much pressure with his championship lead whittled to 66 points. And right now it is nothing more than coincidence that Antonelli came slightly unstuck at the same place last year's runaway points leader Oscar Piastri had a nightmare that sparked the unravelling of his championship bid.

Antonelli stopped his own weekend from spiralling into an all-round disaster with a sensible, patient recovery to fifth on Sunday. He described it in less flattering terms: "I was driving a bit like my grandmother today, just damage-safe mode, just didn't take a risk."

There was a secondary element to Antonelli feeling "it wasn't the usual Kimi" this weekend, though, as he also was just not as quick as team-mate Russell.

He needs to shake that off to contain this to a one-off disappointment - although in reality he can easily afford to be the second-best Mercedes a few more times to the end of the season, as long as it's not accompanied by early qualifying crashes. **\- SMM**

## McLaren drivers were left exposed in Baku 

McLaren's drivers both made costly errors in the grand prix, but team boss Andrea Stella felt the car's main limitation in Baku left them exposed - a lack of straightline speed. 

"We had issues and some mistakes, but at the same time I think we paid \[the price for\] some fundamental limitations of our package in this kind of circuit because we were not fast enough in the corners but at the same time, and mainly, we were not fast enough in the straights," Stella said.

"This continuously exposed our drivers to being attacked and having to spend the race pretty much watching the mirrors rather than thinking about how they can progress in the race." 

McLaren's gear ratio choices versus the works Mercedes team and having a more draggy car partly explain that, but Stella says the data in Baku also showed "our power unit was not optimised" compared to the works Mercedes. 

McLaren made big strides in power unit optimisation, having started the season well adrift of Mercedes' understanding, but Baku showed how much progress it still needs to make in that area. **\- JS** 

## Upgrade hasn't changed the essence of Aston Martin's season 

Aston Martin made another important weight-saving step in Baku, meaning the car is now "very close" to the minimum weight limit, having started the season very overweight.

But that didn't translate into a good weekend as Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll managed 27 laps between them on Saturday, having only fought Cadillac all weekend.

Stroll stopped with a water pressure leak after seven laps, admitting, "There aren't many positives to take away" from Baku. 

Alonso stopped because of a suspected engine problem with "anomalous" straightline speed, but Honda's initial post-race inspection didn't find any issue. 

Even if Alonso had a healthy enough car to continue, he wouldn't have been fighting for much, as Baku's layout rivals Monza as a worst-case scenario for the package's main limitation. 

"We are doing our part of the job, which is helping the team to try to understand how to get faster in the corners," Alonso said. 

"When we press the throttle pedal, when we go on the straights, we need to rely on Honda getting better and better. 

"We made a step forward this year with the engine upgrade, but obviously, as we see, there is not enough, and we need to keep on going." 

Alonso expects Malaysia to be "a better situation than Monza and Baku, but we need to do better as a team in Malaysia and Singapore". **\- JS** 

## Racing Bulls got away with its worst weekend 

Racing Bulls can leave Baku feeling relieved that it won F1's midfield fight despite an intra-team collision and a confusing lack of pace that it couldn't understand. 

The team has been such a consistent force at the front of F1's midfield; it was surprising to see it seven and a half tenths of a second slower than Alpine in qualifying. 

*And,* after such a consistently impressive rookie season, it was the first properly messy weekend for Lindblad.

He crashed in practice, was kicking himself for underdelivering in qualifying and then wiped team-mate Lawson out of the race. 

Crucially, Lindblad avoided a penalty and then battled past both Haas drivers, beating Ocon on the run to line, having taken advantage of him misjudging how much to lift off after cutting the corner to avoid Valtteri Bottas's stricken Cadillac at the Turn 15 left-hander. 

It was a brilliant salvage job, aided by some luck for Lindblad (no terminal car damage or penalty from hitting Lawson and Colapinto's wrecking ball mistake), that meant Racing Bulls surprisingly did what it's been doing for most of the year - win the midfield fight. 

As Lawson said, the team "got very very lucky today." **\- JS**