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Carlos Sainz was dropped five places on the starting grid for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix after stewards ruled he failed to slow enough under yellow flags in qualifying. The Williams driver had qualified ninth in Baku after reaching Q3 for the first time this year, but the penalty moved him to 14th and behind teammate Alex Albon. The ruling also promoted Franco Colapinto, Ollie Bearman, Liam Lawson, Albon and Esteban Ocon one place each.

Stewards said Sainz had been warned by Williams about the yellow flags and that telemetry showed no meaningful speed reduction in the relevant sector. The decision came after a hearing with Sainz and a Williams representative, and officials said they reviewed the available data before issuing the penalty. Sainz also received two penalty points, taking him to four over the previous 12 months.

The qualifying punishment followed a separate reprimand for Sainz after Friday practice, where stewards said he had failed to slow sufficiently under yellow flags in FP3. That earlier case was judged with mitigating circumstances. It was Sainz’s second reprimand of the season.

George Russell dominated qualifying in Baku to take pole position for Mercedes, posting a 1:42.526 lap and beating Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc by 0.837 seconds, the biggest qualifying margin of the Formula 1 season. Russell led every segment of the session and claimed his fifth pole of 2026, while Mercedes also appeared well suited to the Baku street circuit’s long straights.

The session’s biggest setback came for championship leader Kimi Antonelli, who crashed at Turn 1 in Q1, damaged his front-left suspension and was classified 16th on the grid. Antonelli said the changing grip caught him out and called the mistake very unnecessary. Max Verstappen also had a difficult afternoon, qualifying eighth after engine and battery problems, yellow flags and an aborted final run left him without a realistic chance to fight for pole. Verstappen said the issue cost him about half a second on the straights.

Leclerc said Ferrari felt too unpredictable for him to attack the walls as usual, while Oscar Piastri qualified third and said McLaren had little chance of matching Mercedes. Isack Hadjar took fourth, Lando Norris fifth, Lewis Hamilton sixth, Pierre Gasly seventh, Carlos Sainz ninth and Franco Colapinto 10th. Esteban Ocon missed Q3 in 14th for Haas after yellow flags disrupted his lap, and the race was expected to hinge on tire warm-up, a likely one-stop strategy and the possibility of safety cars and gusty Baku winds.

George Russell took pole for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix in Baku, putting his Mercedes on top with a lap of 1:42.526, 0.837 seconds clear of Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc. McLaren’s Oscar Piastri qualified third and Lando Norris fifth, while Red Bull’s Isack Hadjar took fourth. Piastri said McLaren had “no hope” of beating Russell after briefly leading early in Q3 before failing to improve on its final runs. Russell called the lap “perfect” and said the margin was the biggest of his career, adding that a small tow from Hadjar helped him on the back straight.

McLaren’s qualifying result came after a difficult Thursday in practice, with both cars chasing pace throughout the day. Norris described the team’s speed as “pretty pants” and “miles off” after finishing 14th in FP1 and sixth in FP2, both sessions more than 1.4 seconds behind Russell. Piastri called it an “interesting but productive day” as McLaren worked through a new upgrade package aimed at improving straight-line speed, after front-brake vibration in FP1 and floor damage forced temporary repairs.

Russell topped both practice sessions for Mercedes, underlining McLaren’s problems on a circuit Norris said was difficult for the team because of its lack of high-speed corners, which he compared to Monaco. Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli crashed in Q1 and will start 16th after clipping the wall at Turn 1, while Max Verstappen was eighth after yellow flags disrupted his final Q3 lap.

The Azerbaijan Grand Prix weekend in Baku opened with Mercedes setting the pace in practice, as George Russell topped both Thursday sessions and teammate Kimi Antonelli recovered from an early hydraulic failure and power-unit change to finish second in FP2. The race is being run on a rare Thursday-to-Saturday schedule because Azerbaijan’s Remembrance Day falls on Sunday. Russell led FP1 in 1:45.387 and then posted 1:43.347 in FP2, while Antonelli arrived with an 81-point championship lead after winning the last two races in Monza and Madrid.

Antonelli’s Thursday was disrupted after his car stopped at Turn 7 in FP1, and Mercedes lost much of the session while repairing the problem. Mercedes said the early advantage may not have shown the full picture because it ran more timed laps on soft tires than its rivals, but the team still left Baku in strong shape. FP2 was red-flagged after Racing Bulls rookie Arvid Lindblad crashed in the castle section, and Oliver Bearman later stopped with an engine failure, adding to a busy day on the tight street circuit.

Ferrari, Red Bull and McLaren all remained in the mix, but final practice showed Verstappen and Mercedes as the main benchmark. Verstappen went fastest in FP3 with a 1:43.922 lap, 0.099 seconds clear of Russell, with Lewis Hamilton third, Antonelli fourth and Charles Leclerc fifth. Strong winds, slipstream use on Baku’s long straight and a brief virtual safety car for a tree branch complicated the session, while Hamilton said Ferrari still needed more performance and lacked rivals’ straight-line speed. Qualifying was set for Friday in Baku.

Formula 1 is preparing a new round of power unit changes for 2027 to address battery-management issues that emerged under the 2026 hybrid rules, which prompted concerns about uneven electric deployment and so-called yo-yo racing. Under the 2027 package, the combustion engine’s share of power will rise to 58% from 53%, electric deployment will drop from 350kW to 300kW, and harvesting will increase. Overtake mode will stay at 350kW. Formula 1 will also shorten the standard race distance from 305km to 290km, trimming about two or three laps from most grands prix to offset higher fuel use without requiring larger fuel tanks. The changes are set to begin in 2027 and are being treated as a first step before further fixes ahead of the current power unit formula’s planned end in 2030.

The longer-term direction for 2030 is moving toward a turbocharged 3.0-liter V8 rather than a naturally aspirated engine, with the FIA and Formula 1 leadership pushing for a simpler, cheaper and more raceable package. The concept being discussed includes a smaller turbocharger, a reduced electric element of about 100kW, and a lighter engine package that would be about 50kg less than the current power unit. DRS is not expected to return, and an IndyCar-style push-to-pass system is being considered instead. If the plan is finalized for 2030, it would shorten the current engine cycle by one year, and FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem is pushing to bring the new regulations in for 2030 rather than 2031.

Audi boss Mattia Binotto said there was still no clarity on the rules and said they should be agreed and voted on before the end of the year so manufacturers can begin design work by 2027. Red Bull Powertrains CEO Laurent Mekies said the manufacturers are broadly aligned on wanting flat-out racing, qualifying and continued technological relevance, with the remaining details still to be worked out with the FIA. Separately, the hybrid split is set to move from 58/42 in 2027 to 60/40 in 2028 and 2029.