George Russell’s Baku Masterclass
George Russell delivered a performance that will be remembered for years, taking a ‘grand slam’ in Baku: pole position, victory, fastest lap and every single lap led. The Mercedes driver was imperious from lights to flag, and he was quick to label it the strongest form of his season.
Russell revealed he has adopted a “new driving style” and admitted he feels “more myself again” after what he described as a “really tough period.” That honesty was striking from a driver who has often been measured in his public comments, and it hints at how much work went on behind the scenes.
The result leaves him trailing Kimi Antonelli by 66 points in the standings, a gap that remains significant but no longer insurmountable. Antonelli had been forced into a fightback across the weekend, as outlined in our coverage of the F1 Azerbaijan Grand Prix 2026: Russell Takes Pole as Antonelli Faces Baku Fightback, and Russell’s flawless drive only tightened the pressure at the top. Antonelli still leads the championship, so the pecking order is unchanged, but the margin is now small enough to matter.
Colapinto’s Lap 36 Calamity and the Cost to Alpine
If Russell’s weekend was a masterclass, Franco Colapinto’s was a catastrophe. The Alpine driver braked “far too late” at the lap 36 safety car restart, wiping out team-mate Pierre Gasly and taking Lando Norris with him.
Flavio Briatore did not mince his words: “Franco has taken full responsibility for it, as he should; in fact he braked far too late considering the context of the race and the safety car restart. It was a very poor move for a driver of his experience.”
McLaren’s Andrea Stella suggested the stewards would review the incident, adding: “I’m sure it will be reviewed by Flavio as well. I’m not sure which one is going to be harsher…” Norris himself called for a race ban, repeating the demand multiple times in the mixed zone.
The awkward subplot is that Colapinto has already earned a 2027 contract extension. That security will do little to quiet the criticism after a collision that cost his own team dearly. Alpine had been fighting for fifth in the constructors’ standings, and they lost that ground in a single moment. A collision between team-mates is always damaging, but when it happens while the team is scrapping for position in the championship, it becomes a strategic disaster. The irony is that both drivers were chasing the same objective, and neither reached it.
Sergio Perez Impresses for Cadillac in Baku
Away from the chaos, Sergio Perez delivered a reminder of why Cadillac values him. The Mexican qualified and raced strongly, running with the Audis in the first stint and building a 52-second gap over Valtteri Bottas by the time his team-mate pitted on lap 28.
“It’s been one of my best weekends in Baku, I managed to get 150% out of that car,” Perez said. “We were fighting cars that are a second or two seconds faster than us, due to the overtake mode.”
Bottas, by contrast, lacked pace and admitted he would look for answers. The contrast between the two sides of the garage could not have been sharper.
Isack Hadjar’s Statement Drive
Isack Hadjar returned from a three-week layoff with a fractured left wrist and produced arguably his strongest Red Bull performance to date. The 21-year-old qualified fourth, finished third, matched team-mate Max Verstappen on soft tyres and was preparing to attack him before the first safety car intervened.
Racing at that level with a healing wrist is one thing; doing it against Verstappen in equal machinery is another. Hadjar’s drive suggested he is ready for more responsibility, and it will have been noted in the Red Bull hierarchy.
A Race of Two Halves
Two mid-race safety cars turned Baku into a chaotic contest. The lap 36 restart reshaped the order entirely, and the race will be remembered as much for the collisions as for the result.
The first half belonged to Russell’s controlled brilliance; the second half descended into the kind of unpredictability that makes street circuits so compelling and so cruel. For some teams, the restart was an opportunity. For Alpine, it was the moment the weekend fell apart.
Pedro Acosta Ends KTM’s Drought in Austria
At the Red Bull Ring, Pedro Acosta finally delivered KTM’s first grand prix win after nearly three seasons in MotoGP, ending a Ducati and Aprilia dry-weather duopoly that had stood since the 2023 US GP.
The route to victory was anything but smooth. Acosta crashed out of the sprint with three laps to run, a moment he called the “most embarrassing mistake” of his career, and fell again in warm-up. Yet on Sunday he delivered a composed, controlled ride that showed exactly why KTM has invested so heavily in him.
KTM had shown progress at Silverstone, Aragon and Misano before this breakthrough, and the win felt like the culmination of a long rebuild rather than a flash in the pan.
Ducati’s Miserable Red Bull Ring
Ducati endured a weekend to forget. The Desmosedici “never clicked” in one-lap or race trim, leaving the Italian marque as only the third-best manufacturer. Marc Marquez struggled throughout, and without Acosta’s sprint crash, Ducati would have ended the weekend without a podium at all.
Riders pointed to Michelin’s stiffer rear carcass as the key factor, having also struggled with it at Buriram and Goiania. Fermin Aldeguer and Fabio di Giannantonio were similarly off the pace, which suggests a systemic issue rather than individual driver error.
Aprilia, meanwhile, reclaimed the lead in both the riders’ and manufacturers’ standings, underlining just how quickly the balance of power can shift.
Jorge Martin and Aprilia Take Control
Jorge Martin took pole, extending Aprilia’s pole streak in 2026. He then won the sprint after dropping to eighth on lap one in a tussle with Marc Marquez, with his repass described as a retaliatory move.
On Sunday, Martin beat Marco Bezzecchi early to establish authority at Aprilia, then held off Acosta for as long as he could. With Bezzecchi not fully recovered, Martin has strengthened his case as Aprilia’s lead title contender for 2026.
Alex Marquez’s Weekend to Forget
Alex Marquez crashed on all three days at the Red Bull Ring, a week after returning to the podium for the first time since his injury. His Friday crash was the most spectacular, and he also fell in the race while running outside the top 10.
For a rider who had just rediscovered his form, the weekend was a brutal reminder of how unforgiving MotoGP can be.
Both series are now defined by fine margins. A late brake at a safety car restart, a tyre carcass that does not suit a chassis, a wrist that has not fully healed: these are the details that decide championships. This weekend, they decided a great deal.
We covered franco colapinto baku crash in more detail elsewhere.
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