Formula 1 returns to action this weekend at the Baku City Circuit for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix: a 6.003 km street circuit race over 51 laps, according to the official Formula 1 event page, with the Grand Prix itself on Saturday 26 September, under the revised weekend timetable.
Kimi Antonelli arrives with 292 championship points, 81 clear of George Russell and 101 clear of Lewis Hamilton, as the official drivers table shows. The last round produced another win for the leader: Antonelli’s victory in Madrid was his team’s latest of a season it has dominated so far.
Why the race falls on a Saturday
The event was originally scheduled for Sunday 27 September. In the move that followed, “Formula 1 and the FIA have agreed to move the 2026 Azerbaijan Grand Prix from Sunday 27th September to Saturday 26th to accommodate a national day”, with the change coming following a request from the Azerbaijan promoter and relevant government stakeholders. Azerbaijan’s Remembrance Day falls on the original date. The weekend shape extends to tyre planning: Pirelli’s own note on the appointment is built around the Saturday race.
The softest range, chosen for a low-wear race
Pirelli has selected the softest range of compounds for Baku: C3 as hard, C4 as medium and C5 as soft, its preview of the weekend states. The supplier expects the abrasive surface to produce very low levels of wear and degradation, making a one-stop race the most likely scenario, with some graining possible. The choice also follows last year’s visit, where a still-softer C6 was available but went unused in the race because drivers preferred to extend their stints.
Hadjar returns to the Red Bull line-up
Isack Hadjar is set to make his return to Red Bull at this weekend’s Azerbaijan Grand Prix, RacingNews365 reported on 21 September. An injury picked up over the summer break ruled him out of the last three rounds at Zandvoort, Monza and Madrid. During that spell Liam Lawson stood in at Red Bull and Yuki Tsunoda came into Racing Bulls in place of Lawson. Hadjar’s return closes that arrangement and restores the line-up Red Bull planned for the closing stretch.
Where the championship stands
Antonelli does not need to win in Baku to protect his position. An 81-point cushion over Russell and 101 over Hamilton means a difficult weekend on a street circuit, where the official event page notes the field brakes from around 350 km/h into the 90-degree Turn 1, still leaves the standings order intact. That is arithmetic rather than prediction, and it is the only reliable guide before a session has run: on a weekend where track position and clean air shape the result, finish rate matters as much as outright pace. Both series keep their date changes and session schedules on the Bettista calendar, and the standings behind these numbers are on the official drivers table.
