Formula One departed Europe and headed east to Baku for Round 15 of the 2026 World Championship and the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. It marked a decade since Formula One first raced through the streets of the Azerbaijani capital, initially as the European Grand Prix in 2016 before becoming the Azerbaijan Grand Prix a year later. In that period the Baku streets have established a reputation for unpredictable and frequently dramatic racing, with its combination of extremely high speeds, unforgiving barriers and plentiful overtaking opportunities often producing incidents and the need for thee Safety Car. Unusually, this year's timetable was brought forward by a day, with practice beginning on Thursday, Qualifying on Friday and the 51-lap Grand Prix taking place on Saturday, due to it being a National Remembrance holiday on the Sunday.
At 6.003km, the Baku City Circuit is one of the longest on the calendar and arguably, one of its most extraordinary - its 20 corners combining two completely contrasting challenges. Much of the lap is a traditional street circuit, with numerous slow 90-degree corners and the cars having to thread their way through the 12th century Old Town - its narrowest point being alongside the medieval castle walls. Then the drivers accelerate out of the final sequence of corners and onto the 2.2km straight towards turn 1 – the longest full-throttle section in Formula One, where speeds can exceed 350km/h. Finding sufficient downforce and mechanical grip for the tight corners without sacrificing too much speed along the enormous straight presents one of the season's more difficult setup compromises. Braking would be equally important, with repeated heavy stops around the lap and after arriving at turn 1 at full speed after the long run from the final corner. The 2026 regulations added another dimension, with two Straight Mode zones – together with Overtake Mode potentially making the long straight an even greater strategic battleground.
Aston Martin brought some upgrades to Baku, mainly aimed at lightening the car down to as close as possible to the weight limit. Given that, Baku could provide an opportunity to recover from two disappointing weekends, in Monza and Madrid, but it could also present another stern examination of the AMR26-Honda package. The 2.2km full-throttle section would seriously test the straight-line performance that proved such a weakness at Monza, although the slow-speed corners and heavy braking zones would provide a broader technical challenge. Historically, Baku has produced some strong results for the team: Sebastian Vettel secured the team's first Formula One podium here with second place in 2021, while Alonso and Stroll finished fourth and seventh respectively in 2023 and Alonso added another sixth place in 2024. After leaving Azerbaijan without points last season, Aston Martin will be hoping that Baku's reputation for unpredictability – combined with the team's previous success here – could provide an opportunity to return to a fight for points.
Free Practice
Formula One's first track action of the race weekend began on a dusty Baku City Circuit, with the lack of grip immediately apparent as some drivers veered off track and onto run-off areas or side roads. Aston Martin initially adopted a cautious programme, sending both Alonso and Stroll out on the hard compound tyres as the team began assessing the AMR26 around this unique circuit. Alonso's first representative lap put him P15, a gaping seven seconds behind Verstappen's early benchmark, with Stroll P17. Much of that deficit inevitably reflected the rapidly evolving track and differing programmes rather than outright performance, and Alonso quickly began reducing the gap. After 15 minutes he had climbed to P13, only 3.5 seconds adrift of the P1 time. Stroll returned to the pits while Alonso continued his programme and improved his position further, to P11. Antonelli then stopped beside the circuit with smoke coming from his Mercedes, apparently suffering a hydraulic problem, which required the Virtual Safety Car (VSC). Russell subsequently missed a corner and disappeared down one of Baku's escape roads, illustrating how difficult the dusty and relatively low-grip conditions remained.
At the halfway point Alonso was P13 and Stroll P18, with the gap to the fastest time now down to 2.25 seconds. Both Aston Martins remained on the hard compound tyres, but as the circuit continued to improve and their rivals moved through their programmes, the pair slipped progressively down the order. Entering the final quarter Alonso was P17 and Stroll P20 having switched to medium tyres. Due to that long final full-throttle section some drivers were able to pick up a tow and gained a significant advantage to their times, something Alonso demonstrated inadvertently when Russell tucked in behind the Aston Martin and used the slipstream to help propel himself to the top of the timesheets. There was further disruption in the closing minutes when Lindblad and Hülkenberg stopped on circuit, briefly triggering another VSC. Lindblad managed to get going again but Hülkenberg climbed out of his car, while Ocon then came to a halt at the pit exit. Alonso attempted one final run, but the chequered flag appeared before he could complete another representative lap.
Russell therefore finished FP1 fastest, while Aston Martin ended the session firmly towards the rear of the field - Alonso was P19 after completing 24 laps and Stroll P21 after 22 laps. Perhaps more concerning given the particular demands of Baku, there was little indication of the straight-line competitiveness Aston Martin had demonstrated here 12 months earlier, when the cars had been amongst the fastest through the speed trap.
Later in the afternoon, both Aston Martins were quickly back onto the circuit for FP2, this time initially running on the soft compound tyres. Their opening laps were largely devoted to bedding-in work before Alonso began to push and briefly climbed to P8. The position, however, proved temporary. As the rest of the field began setting representative times the familiar pattern returned and, at a quarter of the way into the session, Alonso had dropped to P19 and Stroll to P21. Practice was interrupted after 20 minutes when Lindblad hit a wall, bringing out red flags. The resulting delay lasted around nine minutes and with the clock continuing to run, there was a stampede at the end of the pit lane as the drivers queued up to head out in an attempt to recover the lost track time. Stroll was a notable exception - he remained in the garage.
When the session resumed there were only some 30 minutes remaining and the two AMR26s were still P19 and P21. Almost immediately Bearman stopped off the racing line after his car appeared to cut out, briefly bringing out yellow flags, but the session continued. Stroll eventually returned to the circuit and Alonso had come into his garage and had work undertaken by his mechanics there. As the minutes ticked away it became apparent that this was more than a routine setup change. With 15 minutes remaining Stroll was running in P21 and circulating some four seconds slower than the leading pace, while Alonso, still in the garage, had slipped to P22, i.e. last. At that point it was conveyed that the mechanics were working on a suspected oil leak, which was curtailing the Spaniards running and that is how it continued for him for the remainder of the session. Although Alonso had an excuse, the picture on the other side of the garage was worrying. Stroll wasn’t able to gain any positions before the chequered flag fell. Russell completed a clean sweep of Friday's sessions by again setting the fastest time, while Stroll was classified in P21 after completing 22 laps, with Alonso in P22, having managed only nine laps. Alonso's eventual position was rendered somewhat meaningless as a measure of his ultimate pace, as he simply wasn’t able to get enough practice in.
It was a difficult opening day for Aston Martin. The team had occupied the bottom four positions for much of both sessions and, although Alonso's FP2 result was heavily compromised by the oil leak, Stroll's uninterrupted running offered little evidence that significantly greater performance was being left on the table. More troublingly, there had so far been no repeat of the straight-line competitiveness Aston Martin had demonstrated at Baku the previous year, when they were the fastest car.
Aston Martin's final opportunity to find some performance improvement before Qualifying came on a windy Friday morning, although there was little urgency shown from any drivers to head on track when FP3 began. Five minutes had elapsed before Alpine ventured out and 15 minutes before Alonso and Stroll finally emerged from their garages to begin their programmes. Both Aston Martins were on soft tyres, but there was little immediate evidence that the faster compound had transformed their fortunes. Stroll initially went P7, although only nine drivers had recorded a lap at that stage and he lost positions as the rest of the field joined the action. More startlingly, the speed-trap provided remarkable evidence of Aston Martin's lack of straight-line speed: the AMR26s were captured travelling at lower speeds than some of the Formula Two cars that had been competing in a support event just a short while earlier – the only Formula One cars to have done so! Approaching the halfway point, Stroll's session came to a premature end. The Canadian clipped the inside wall at turn three, possibly due to a sudden gust of tailwind, punctured a tyre, and although he managed to continue as far as turn four, the team instructed him to stop the car safely. He pulled off track and climbed out, ending his final practice session after only a handful of representative laps. The tailwind also caught Hamilton and Albon out at the same corner, although both escaped damage by taking to the escape road. At the halfway point Alonso was P20, some four seconds slower than Russell's leading time, with the stranded Stroll P21. Alonso headed back on track for his final runs with 15 minutes remaining, still on soft tyres. His next flying lap reduced the deficit to 3.3 seconds but it did not improve his position. As the track continued to evolve Alonso gradually reduced the gap further, but so did the other drivers around him. When the chequered flag appeared he remained P20, although his final deficit had fallen to 2.6 seconds from Verstappen, who ultimately set the fastest time. Stroll, unable to return following his earlier contact with the wall, was classified P22. It completed a deeply discouraging series of practice sessions for Aston Martin. Despite all the chassis upgrades in Budapest and the Honda power unit upgrades in Zandvoort, the AMR26 was only 0.39 of a second faster than what it was at the opening race of the season in Australia – leaving Aston Martin at a huge deficit. Qualifying threatened to confirm what the practice times had been suggesting so far.
Qualifying
There was a slight delay to the start of Qualifying as the track required clearing and cleaning following the earlier Formula Two race. When the track was finally ready, Aston Martin faced the increasingly familiar challenge of trying to avoid elimination in Q1. Stroll's difficulties started almost immediately. He locked up heavily during his opening attempt and was forced to take to an escape road, briefly bringing out yellow flags -but he managed to continue. Alonso at least completed a representative lap and, with 10 minutes remaining was hanging on to P16, right on the edge of the elimination zone. Stroll eventually completed a lap but only put his AMR26 in P21, meaning he was in considerable jeopardy of elimination. Elsewhere Antonelli hit a wall, damaging his Mercedes badly enough to bring his Qualifying session to a premature end and he took no further part in the session. As the final two minutes approached, both Aston Martins were in the elimination zone and desperately needed improvement, but there would be none. Stroll stopped again during the closing moments, prompting another yellow flag, while Alonso was unable to find sufficient improvement to progress. When the chequered flag fell, Alonso was in the elimination zone, in P19, and Stroll was P22 - last. Russell set the fastest time. Aston Martins brief excursion was over and another Qualifying session had come to an early conclusion.
With the green machines parked up for the afternoon, attention switched to the battle for pole. Russell continued his impressive weekend by again setting the fastest time in Q2, while championship leader Antonelli was not taking any part following his accident in Q1. Q3 initially appeared to be developing into a McLaren contest. Norris took provisional pole after the first runs before Piastri immediately displaced his teammate at the top of the timesheets. Russell, however, had other ideas. Having topped both Thursday practice sessions and Q1 and Q2, the Mercedes driver produced another superb lap when it mattered and snatched pole position in the closing moments. Leclerc secured P2 for Ferrari, with Piastri taking third.
After the session it was revealed that Alonso's P19 Qualifying position would make little difference to where he would start the race. Both Aston Martins had taken further power unit components beyond their permitted allocations, earning Alonso a cumulative 25-place grid penalty after taking a fifth internal combustion engine, fifth turbocharger and ninth power unit ancillary component, while Stroll received a 20-place penalty for a sixth turbocharger, seventh energy store, sixth control electronics unit and eighth power unit ancillary component. Both drivers therefore, would line up at the back of the grid, in P21 and P22 respectively, leaving Aston Martin facing another extremely difficult race.
Race
Promisingly, the 51-lap Azerbaijan Grand Prix would be taking place in bright sunshine and considerably calmer conditions than had been experienced earlier in the weekend. There were no last minute changes to the starting order for the Aston Martins and Alonso and Stroll lined up together on the final row of the grid, Alonso in P21 and Stroll P22, both starting on the C5 soft compound tyres. When the lights went out, Piastri immediately passed Leclerc on the short run into the first corner, while Verstappen made an excellent start to gain two places. Alonso also initially made good progress - he gained a place off the start, passing Bottas, and then Perez in the second Cadillac, while Stroll remained anchored at the back. But Alonso's progress proved short-lived. On the long straight leading to the finish of the lap Perez repassed Alonso and went on to pull away and Bottas managed a similar overtake at the end of lap two. Therefore, Alonso was back in P21 and Stroll was P22. At the front, Russell and Piastri led, while the Red Bulls were making steady progress. Hadjar and Verstappen had passed Leclerc by lap five, to move into third and fourth. Over the next three laps Alonso had managed to get back to within a second of Bottas, but Stroll's afternoon was about to come to a premature end. On lap nine, the team instructed Stroll to stop his car. He pulled safely off the circuit and climbed out before the marshals pushed the AMR26 away. It was subsequently confirmed that a water-pressure problem had caused the retirement, making it Stroll's 11th DNF of a deeply exasperating season. That left Alonso as Aston Martin's sole contender and he continued to pursue Bottas. By lap 14 he was within half a second of the Cadillac and he was able to make his move - he passed Bottas and began edging away, but a long way behind the next driver ahead, Perez, who was 20 seconds further up the road. However, whilst Alonso was able to defend through the slow corners and tight sections, once it got to the long final straight the Aston Martin was a sitting duck and the Cadillac was able to repass Alonso on the following lap. And that is how it continued for the next few laps - Alonso reclaimed P20 on lap 17 but Bottas responded again a lap later, then Alonso passed Bottas for a third time on lap 20 and Bottas would get it back again at the end of the lap. It become a private battle at the very back of the grid, while the gap to Perez had grown to almost half a minute. Alonso came into the pits on lap 21, but he would no return to the race. The Aston Martin team decided to retire the car due to it losing such significant speed on Baku's long straights. Aston Martin's Azerbaijan Grand Prix was therefore over before the race had even reached half-distance. More dispiritingly, it represented the team's fourth official double DNF of the season, following China, Barcelona and Monza. Australia had come close to being another: both cars had been out of contention before Stroll was briefly sent back onto the circuit near the end of the race, completing another two laps before returning permanently to the pits and ultimately being classified P17, 15 laps behind the winner.
There was, however, plenty of racing still to unfold after Aston Martin had packed away both cars. Russell led Piastri and Verstappen at half-distance before Albon crashed into the wall on lap 31, bringing out the Safety Car and wiping away Russell's 11-second advantage. The drivers took advantage of the interruption to pit, bunching the field for the restart. Racing resumed on lap 36 and Verstappen immediately seized second place from Piastri, but moments later there was a major collision at turn one. Colapinto locked up and piled into Gasly, who in turn hit Norris and jettisoned the McLaren into the wall resulting in Norris, Gasly and Colapinto getting eliminated. Lindblad was also caught up in the incident and the Safety Car was deployed once again. When racing resumed on lap 38, with only 16 cars left in contention, Russell led away from Verstappen and Piastri, but Piastri's podium challenge unravelled shortly afterwards. Under pressure from Hadjar, he attempted to brake late, locked up heavily and hurtled into an escape road and tumbled down the order, promoting Hadjar into third. Further back, Antonelli continued an impressive recovery from 16th on the grid and passed Hamilton for fifth with just 10 laps to go. The closing laps developed into a tense contest between Russell and Verstappen. The Red Bull gradually closed the gap until Verstappen was within a second of the leader, but Russell held on under intense pressure. After 51 laps he crossed the line just under two tenths of a second ahead of Verstappen, with Hadjar completing the podium in third.
For Aston Martin, the official classifications were Stroll P22 – DNF on lap 7 and Alonso P21 – DNF on lap 20.
Reaction and Comment
The results and performance in Azerbaijan had added to Aston Martin's list of ‘troubling weekends’ and there was no disguising the scale of their problems. The AMR26 had occupied the bottom few positions throughout practice, both cars were eliminated in Q1 and although their power-unit penalties meant they would have started from the rear regardless, neither survived even half the race. Stroll's water-pressure problem added another reliability failure to his season, while Alonso's unexplained loss of straight-line speed was particularly concerning at a circuit where the speed trap had already revealed Aston Martin's deficit during practice. More worrying, at the end of the weekend, the team had still not identified the precise cause of the ‘possible engine problem’ that Alonso was complaining about over the radio to the team and said it remained ‘under investigation’. Had Alonso just had enough? After the race, he said, "Unfortunately, we had to retire the car as we seemed to be losing a lot of time on the straights and so we need to analyse this further. We knew this weekend wasn't going to be a strong one for us and it proved to be the case. It's where we are right now and let's see if we can have a stronger weekend in Malaysia." Lance Stroll was more terse with his reaction. "There’s not much positives right now, maybe no positives. We had a water pressure issue, so I was told to stop the car. It's been another tough week, but we know the situation we are dealing with this year. There aren't many positives to take away. The focus is on improving these issues for the upcoming races and as we look further ahead to 2027." Have Aston Martin given up on 2026 already?
With Baku adding to the list of ‘circuit-specific' tracks where the AMR26 might not perform optimally the team now heads to the Sepang circuit in Malaysia for the Bahrain Grand Prix next weekend to continue the next stage of this current triple-header.