Max Verstappen launches another sensational late season charge but it's too late to stop Kimi Antonelli

Verstappen’s slow start from pole handed the initiative to Mercedes pair Kimi Antonelli and George Russell. The Red Bull driver got past the Brit, but the Italian still led when a safety car was called to retrieve the Cadillac of Valtteri Bottas from a gravel trap. When the race resumed, with the leaders having traded their intermediate tyres for slicks, Antonelli and Verstappen ran side by side through three corners before the Dutchman took the lead, Russell also getting a fine exit from Turn 4 to pass Antonelli.

Nine laps later, Antonelli was back ahead of Russell, and this was how they ran for the bulk of the race before Alex Albon’s Williams stopped with gearbox failure. After everyone pitted again, they were still circulating behind the safety car when Russell’s power unit cried enough, and he parked in the pitlane exit.

Verstappen had little trouble holding off Antonelli over the four-lap sprint to the finish, during which the star was Hamilton. Ferrari gaffed by sending Hamilton and Charles Leclerc to the start on slicks, but the seven-time champion and his team-mate both eased past the Red Bull of Isack Hadjar to claim third and fourth respectively. MJS

Driver of the day: Fernando Alonso
In an Aston Martin with superb slow corner performance Alonso was super-sensitive in how he used the delicate tyres to qualify P12, the foundation for a great drive to eighth place despite falling to the back through choosing unsuitable slicks for the damp start. MPH

1st Max Verstappen Red Bull 1:47:14.808
2nd Kimi Antonelli Mercedes +2.307sec
3rd Lewis Hamilton Ferrari +4.919sec

MONTH IN NUMBERS

22
Max Verstappen’s Singapore win means he has victories at all but one of the ’26 circuits

2.09sec
Fastest pitstop of the past three races: a Red Bull service for Verstappen at Sepang

8
Position for Fernando Alonso at Sepang. It’s Aston Martin’s best finish of the season

217.1
Fastest speed trap figure in mph. This time it’s Liam Lawson in the Azerbaijan GP

34
Most points taken in sprint races in 2026. Joint ‘champions’ are Russell and Leclerc

Azerbaijan Sept 24-26

George Russell dominated from pole position on the streets of Baku, after a qualifying shunt had left Mercedes team-mate and series leader Kimi Antonelli in the nether regions of the grid, down in 16th.

Only Max Verstappen posed a threat to the supreme East Anglian. The Dutchman qualified eighth, and ran much of the race in third just ahead of Red Bull team-mate Isack Hadjar, but unable to challenge Oscar Piastri’s McLaren in second. Then two safety car periods closed the field up. Verstappen jumped Piastri at the first restart, and, after the second, the Australian outbraked himself at Turn 1, taking to the escape road and plummeting down the field.

Slowing on the final lap for Valtteri Bottas’s crashed Cadillac cost Russell electrical boost; he only just held off Verstappen, with Hadjar a fine third. MJS

Driver of the day: Isack Hadjar
Returning to the Red Bull cockpit after his three race absence due to a wrist injury in training, Hadjar was properly competitive all weekend. That he outqualified Max Verstappen was about the engine problem in the latter’s car, but in the race he ran third on the faster tyre, moved aside for Verstappen (who was on the slower tyre) but kept pace just behind. When the compounds were swopped at the stops, he was left behind but took a fully merited third place. MPH

1st George Russell Mercedes 1:38:02.143
2nd Max Verstappen Red Bull +0.196sec
3rd Isack Hadjar Red Bull +10.704sec