Live: Russell wins Azerbaijan GP after Piastri disaster in Baku
Oscar Piastri starts the Formula 1 Azerbaijan Grand Prix from third on the grid, with Mercedes' George Russell on pole.
World championship leader Kimi Antonelli starts 16th after a crash in qualifying.
Follow all the action from the Baku City Circuit in our live blog.
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What happened in qualifying?
Mercedes' George Russell took an absolutely dominant pole position in yesterday's session.
The British driver beat Ferrari's Charles Leclerc by 0.837 seconds into second around the testing Baku City Circuit.
"That's probably the biggest margin I've had in my whole career," Russell said.
"The lap felt really sweet and the car has been feeling great all weekend."
Australia's Oscar Piastri qualified his McLaren in third, with Red Bull's Isack Hadjar joining him on the second row of the grid.
Hadjar has missed the last three Grands Prix in the Netherlands, Italy and Spain with a wrist fracture, so it was a welcome return for him.
Lando Norris, who also went off track but in the final phase of qualifying, will start fifth, starting alongside his fellow Briton Lewis Hamilton in sixth.
Pierre Gasly (Alpine) and Max Verstappen (Red Bull) are seventh and eighth, with Franco Colapinto (Alpine) in ninth and Oliver Bearman (Haas) rounding out the top 10.
Carlos Sainz (Williams) had made it into the final phase of qualifying but was hit with a five-place grid penalty for failing to slow for yellow flags.
The big story was runaway championship leader Kimi Antonelli hitting the wall at Turn One and crashing out.
It was not a big shunt, but cost him any chance of fighting for a spot in the top 10, meaning the 20-year-old Italian will start 16th.
Here's the wash up from qualifying.
Key Event
What time does the race start?
By Simon Smale
By Simon Smale
The race gets underway at 9:00pm AEST.
That's the time in Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, Tasmania and the ACT.
It's an 8:30pm lights out in the Northern Territory and South Australia, while you lucky ducks in Western Australia can watch over dinner, with the race start at 7:00pm.
Hello and welcome to Azerbaijan
By Simon Smale
By Simon Smale
Hello everyone and welcome to the ABC Sport coverage of the 2026 Formula 1 season.
My name is not Michael Doyle, who is away this weekend, so you're stuck with me, Simon Smale, for what has regularly proven to be one of the most exciting races on the calendar, the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.
Yes it's a Saturday, so it might take a bit of time to warm yourself up into F1-mode (we'll get into why this race is taking place on Saturday and not Sunday in a minute or two) but we'll do our best to get you into the mood as soon as we can.
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