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Mercedes' George Russell starts on Pole Position after an imperious performance in Qualifying. The Briton finished a whopping 0.837s ahead of Ferrari's Charles Leclerc on the front row - the largest Pole margin so far in 2026.

Behind Russell and Leclerc on the second row comes McLaren's Oscar Piastri and Red Bull's Isack Hadjar, respectively, the latter particularly impressive on his return to F1 following a three-week hiatus due to a wrist injury.

Lando Norris starts in P5 after failing to finish a final flying lap during Friday's Qualifying, the reigning world champion has Lewis Hamilton for company in P6 - a difficult weekend so far for the Briton. Rounding out the starting top 10 comes Pierre Gasly, Max Verstappen, Franco Colapinto and Ollie Bearman.

Following a controlled victory in Madrid last time out, championship leader Kimi Antonelli came into the weekend with a comfortable 81-point gap to Mercedes teammate Russell in P2, but will have an awful lot of work to do to increase that gap this afternoon. The Italian clipped the barrier at Turn 1 during Q2, and so will start from P16 in Baku.

Given Mercedes' pace, however, and overtaking opportunities in Azerbaijan, many have tipped Antonelli for similar heroics to his mighty drive at his home Italian GP two rounds prior. The 20-year-old stormed to victory from P19 - moving into the lead after just 18 laps. Can the Italian repeat that feat this afternoon?

Elsewhere, on the grid, Carlos Sainz thought he had secured Williams' first Q3 finish of the season, but the Spaniard was given a five-place grid penalty for for failing to slow under yellow flags and will start P14. Cadillac's Sergio Perez was also given a three-place penalty for impeding, he starts P20, while Aston Martin duo Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll start P21 and P22, respectively, for use of additional power unit elements.