Key Moments from Baku GP – September 26 2026

Race Setup

Baku is a City Circuit — next to the castle and into one of the longest straights of the year.
Not expecting tire degradation to be particularly high.
Soft-tire degradation was lower than expected.

Clean first lap for everyone.
Lap 9: Lance Stroll retires. “Not surprised at all.”
Lap 13: Russell is leading the race by almost 7 seconds.
Lap 21/22: Alonso is out of the race.
Lap 25: George Russell “nibbles” the wall. Concerns begin around tire pressure.
Lap 31: Alex Albon hits the wall, bringing out the Safety Car.
Lap 36: Another Safety Car after the restart goes badly:
- Franco Colapinto locks up into Turn 1 and turns into his teammate and Lando Norris.
- Norris, Gasly, and Colapinto are caught up in the incident.
- Lindblad also makes contact with Lawson, but the main consequence is a loss of positions.
Lap 47: Max lightly taps the wall while fighting George for the lead.
With 2 laps to go: George nearly loses the car at the exit of Turn 1.
Final lap: Valtteri Bottas crashes into the wall around Turns 15/16.
Finish: George wins by only 0.1 seconds. Bottas’s crash creates a strange situation that allows Max to nearly catch George right at the end.

Kimi takes a very cautious approach to the race, gradually gaining positions throughout.
Tire degradation: The soft tire lasted better than expected, which affected the expected race strategy.

“Nibbled the wall.” — George’s light contact around Lap 25.
I was not surprised at all to see Lance Stroll retiring on Lap 9.
The Lap 36 restart chaos: Colapinto locking up into Turn 1 and then spearing his teammate and Norris.
Max tapping the wall near the end while fighting George for the lead.
George nearly throwing it away with two laps remaining.
Bottas crashing on the final lap, causing some chaos at the end for George/Max
George wins by ~0.1 seconds.
“Win every race.” — George’s answer when asked about the game plan for the rest of the season.