George Russell is “confident” he can win the Formula 1 Azerbaijan Grand Prix after taking a dominant pole position on the streets of Baku.
Russell stormed to pole position ahead of Charles Leclerc and Oscar Piastri on Friday for the 51-lap race at the Baku City Street Circuit.
The Mercedes driver, after topping Thursday practice, was in fine form and hooked up a dominant final flying lap during the top-10 shootout.
The gap between Russell and the SF-26 of Leclerc was a whopping eighth tenths of a second – the biggest qualifying margin of F1’s latest era.
“It’s been a while, so it definitely feels good,” Russell told Alex Brundle in Parc Ferme after the session.
“It’s probably the biggest margin in my whole career and even including F2, F3 days. So the lap felt really sweet.
“The car’s been feeling great this weekend and on a track like this, when you can hook it up like that, it feels really amazing.”
Max Verstappen had thwarted Russell taking a clean sweep of Practice P1s, after topping FP3, earlier on Friday.
And while the Red Bull driver was the closest competitor to Russell, on paper, a last ditch yellow flag caused by Lando Norris meant he could only register the eighth-fastest lap of Q3 as the clock ticked down.
“I think Max has been very fast this weekend. I don’t know what happened to him at the end, maybe I think with the yellow flag of Lando,” he added.
“He didn’t get that last chance, so it would have been interesting to see, but it was just the perfect lap at the end. I was in a good gap behind to Hajar, which gave me a nice little slipstream, probably by another tenth or two down this back straight. It was great.”
George Russell: Mercedes “can go for the win” at the F1 Azerbaijan GP
Russell’s single lap pace was monumental compared to the German marque’s rivals.
Looking forward to 51-lap race on Saturday, the Briton is “confident” he can fight for his first win of 2026 since Austria.
“I think we’re in a great place to go for the win, but of course, this is Baku, and anything can happen,” Russell surmised.
“Of course, Charles is going to be motivated to probably throw one down the inside of Turn 1, but whatever happens, I feel confident that we can go for the win.”
Russell’s apprehensions with Leclerc starting alongside him are well founded. The race is known for its Safety Cars and strategic hiccups for the big guns.
Moreover, Ferrari’s race pace seems to be a strong contender to make Russell’s afternoon trickier than he would want on the twisty and narrow streets of Baku.
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