Why Baku poses the biggest remaining threat to Antonelli's 81-point title cushion

The Baku City Circuit has produced seven different winners from nine races since its 2016 debut, with only Sergio Pérez and Max Verstappen managing to win more than once.

The polesitter has converted to a race win just three times in nine attempts, a conversion rate that underlines how easily even the strongest weekend can unravel. The circuit is famous for its 2.2 km main straight along the Caspian Sea waterfront and a narrow section past the Old City walls measuring just 7.6 metres wide, a layout that regularly generates safety cars and late-race chaos.

The Azerbaijan Grand Prix has been moved from Sunday to Saturday, September 26, after the original date clashed with Remembrance Day honouring those who lost their lives during the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

As GPBlog reported, the entire weekend shifts forward by a day, with practice on Thursday, qualifying on Friday and the grand prix itself on Saturday. The weekend also kicks off a crucial autumn triple-header, adding further intensity to an already unconventional schedule.

As GPBlog has outlined, Antonelli can mathematically clinch the 2026 world championship as early as the Singapore Grand Prix in October.

But one DNF in Baku, on a circuit built to punish fragility, would push that timeline back and breathe new life into the title race. In a season where Antonelli's pace has never been in doubt, it may be Mercedes' machinery that faces its most severe exam.