Live: Piastri starts third in Baku for Azerbaijan GP

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.Sat 26 Sep 2026 at 8:18pmSat 26 Sep 2026 at 8:18pm'Stupid' crash brings Antonelli 'back to Earth'(Getty Images)Kimi Antonelli called the mistake that put him out of qualifying for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix "stupid" and said it had brought him back down to earth.The 20-year-old leads Mercedes teammate George Russell by 81 points in the overall standings after 14 rounds, clobbered the wall at the first corner in the opening phase of qualifying and had to park up with a broken suspension.He will start 16th with Russell storming to a dominant pole."I hit the wall and very unnecessary mistake so early on," the Italian told F1TV."It's a good way to come back to earth and to remind myself that I need to be on top of it every time because otherwise I do these mistakes and a very stupid one."Antonelli came into the weekend gunning for his third straight win and ninth of the season so far.(Getty Images)But a hydraulics issue during opening practice on Thursday cost the Italian valuable track time.He has trailed Russell, who has looked far more at ease around the 6km Baku street track, ever since.Nevertheless, he is hoping the speed of the Mercedes can help him fight back."I'm looking forward to tomorrow," said Antonelli, who went from 19th to first at his home Italian Grand Prix in Monza."Hopefully we can recover many places."The car is quick. Hopefully tomorrow is going to be a good race."- ReutersSat 26 Sep 2026 at 8:15pmSat 26 Sep 2026 at 8:15pmHow George Russell earned poleHe was over 8-tenths of a second faster than anyone else in qualifying.Sit back and enjoy George Russell's lap.Sat 26 Sep 2026 at 8:11pmSat 26 Sep 2026 at 8:11pmWhat happened in qualifying?(Getty Images)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.Look who gave George his pole trophy! (Getty Images)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.(F1.com)Sat 26 Sep 2026 at 8:05pmSat 26 Sep 2026 at 8:05pmWhat time does the race start?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.Sat 26 Sep 2026 at 8:01pmSat 26 Sep 2026 at 8:01pmHello and welcome to Azerbaijan(Getty Images)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.Let's start now, shall we?