Max Verstappen second in exciting Azerbaijan GP: 'A strong race'

Published on 26 September 2026 by Florence Cobben

Max Verstappen has come second in the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. The Oracle Red Bull driver had a strong start to his race, where, with lightning fast pace, he was able to worm his way from eighth to second place. After a safety car-restart in the second half of the race, he managed to maneuver past Oscar Piastri into second place. In the closing phases of the race, the Dutchman was gaining on race leader Russell, but eventually came up short. Russell claimed his third Grand Prix win of the year, with Max just 0.196 seconds behind in second place. Isack Hadjar completed the podium in third place.

After the race, Max shares some thoughts: “I think we had a very strong race. For most of the race, we were on the wrong tyre because the medium, unfortunately, didn't work like I think a lot of people expected. Once we swapped to the soft, you could see, George and I were pulling away a lot from everyone behind. It was just pushing flat out and one second behind, one point one, and that was basically the gap the whole stint. So it was good. I enjoyed myself. It got close, of course, to the line because I think George had turbo lag out of fifteen because of the yellow flag, so that's why it was that close. But realistically, (the final gap crossing the line) should have been one second, like the whole stint was.”

In the closing phases of the race, Max hit the wall from pushing the car as fast as it could go. I wasn’t quite enough to claim the win: “It was okay. I tried to take the turn as wide as possible, but the tyres couldn’t hold out. We just came a bit short in terms of deployment. The Mercedes had just a bit more battery than we did. They’re just a bit better than us in that sense, and that saves you three-tenths per round, and we need to make up for that in the turns. We kept falling a tenth short. That’s a shame, but I maximized what I could.”

Under the shining Baku sun that raised air temperatures to 26 degrees Celsius, the Azerbaijan Grand Prix gets underway. The grid has opted for a wide range of tyres. Polesitter George Russell choose the medium compound tyrr, while the men queued up behind him – Charles Leclerc, Oscar Piastri, and Isack Hadjar – elected to use the soft compound tyre. Verstappen starts from P8 on the mediums, while championship leader Kimi Antonelli is all the way back in P16.

Max is starting from the dirty side of the grid, but manages to still make some impressive moves in the opening lap to overtake Pierre Gasly. Russell claims the race lead, followed by Piastri and Leclerc. In the second lap, Max passes Lewis Hamilton to claim fifth place, and passes Lando Norris for fourth place in turn three.

The Red Bulls are lightning quick on the Azerbaijan circuit, and Isack Hadjar passes Charles Leclerc with ease to claim third, with Max following his lead at the start of lap five. Max passes Hadjar to claim third in lap seven, and immediately gets to work to pass Piastri.

Lance Stroll retires his Aston Martin in lap nine owing to technical problems, and parks into turn fifteen. Max has, in the meantime, gained on Piastri. Lap after lap, the Dutchman manages to come within half a second of the Australian, but can’t quite mount the attack. Piastri is faster into the turns and manages to escape Max’s overtake attempts. 

In lap 30, Norris locks up and leaves the track, rejoining in ninth place. A lap later, Alex Albon ends up in the run-off area at turn five. The Williams driver brakes too late and is unable to bring his car to a stop in time. Albon is able to get out of the car unhurt, and a safety car is summoned. Smelling opportunity, almost all of the drivers make a pit stop. Max switches to the soft-compound tyres and remains in third place, behind Piastri and race leader Russell.

On lap 36, the field is free to race once more. Max is on high alert at the restart and immediately passes Piastri for P2. Behind them, chaos erupts. Franco Colapinto brakes too late at the first corner and takes out Alpine teammate Pierre Gasly and Lando Norris, sending both cars off the track and forcing both drivers to retire. Colapinto still makes his way back to the pits, but his race is over. Liam Lawson is also spun around after being hit by teammate Arvid Lindblad, although both Racing Bulls drivers are able to continue. The safety car is deployed once again, this time for three laps. At the restart, Russell retains the lead, followed by Verstappen and Piastri. On lap 40, Hadjar attacks Piastri into the first corner. The McLaren driver brakes too late and rejoins the track in fifteenth place. Hadjar profits from Piastri’s blunder and moves up to P3.

Max has P1 in his sights and continues to put pressure on Russell in the closing stages of the race. Down to the finish line, the four-time world champion manages to remain within one second of the Brit. Shockingly, on the final lap, Valtteri Bottas crashes into turn fifteen. The race leaders fly past the stranded Cadillac, and after maneuvering through the yellow flags, Verstappen suddenly closes in on Russell, reducing the gap between the cars to just half a second as they enter the long straight leading to the finish. However, it is just not enough. The Mercedes driver wins his third Grand Prix of the year, with Max, who takes his seventh podium of the season, finishing just 0.196 seconds behind. Hadjar claims his second podium for Red Bull. Leclerc finishes fourth, while Kimi Antonelli completes his recovery drive in fifth. Lewis Hamilton finishes sixth, with Arvid Lindblad taking seventh after making a pass on the line. Esteban Ocon records his best result of the season in eighth, followed by Haas teammate Oliver Bearman in ninth. Carlos Sainz takes the final point for Williams.

Results Grand Prix Azerbaijan: