F1 live updates: Formula 1 Azerbaijan Grand Prix, Baku City Circuit

Jamie Chadwick is already something of a trail-blazer when it comes to women in motorsport.

And earlier this month she added another notch to her belt, becoming only the second woman to drive a Williams F1 car after Susie Wolff did so in 2015.

Chadwick had 32 laps of the Portimão Circuit in the 2025 Williams FW47, as the Portuguese track gets set to welcome F1 cars back in 2027.

“It was a phenomenal day and an incredible experience,” Chadwick told F1.com.

“Few things can prepare you for driving a Formula 1 car at speed around a track like Portimão, but it was everything I imagined and 10 times more.

“I’m so grateful and incredibly happy with how the day went. It’s an experience I’ll remember for a very long time — I’d go as far as saying it’s been the best day of my life so far.”

Chadwick has been part of Williams since 2019 and was helping the team get data for the circuit’s return.

“Jamie is an inspiration for millions of women and girls who has broken records at every level, and she has thoroughly earned this F1 test opportunity,” Team Principal James Vowles said.

“Her feedback and performance were impressive as we knew they would be.

“This clearly shows there is a path for women to compete at the top level.”

Look at Lewis, still teaching the youngsters some things in and out of the car.

McLaren boss Andrea Stella noted that the Baku City Circuit did not particularly suit his team this weekend.

However, that made the third- and fifth-placed finish in qualifying all the more impressive.

He said that those positions were helped by some challenges faced by their rivals, meaning he expects a solid fight at the pointy end of the race.

“We expect Red Bull and Mercedes to be very strong,” Stella said.

“This is a different competitive picture from Madrid, where we felt we had the quickest car and should have won without the Virtual Safety Car.

“Baku can, however, produce a long and eventful race, with tyre degradation, Safety Cars and other situations creating opportunities.

“Our objective will be to stay in contention, fight for the podium and be ready to exploit every opportunity that comes our way.

“We will focus on executing our race well and putting ourselves in the best possible position to capitalise.”

Thanks Phillip, I consider having varied interests as watching a game of football one minute and the F1 the next, so we’re very lucky.

Speaking of luck, Sky Sports have just reported that Lando Norris has a slight issue with his power unit.

McLaren said it was a fuel injection issue, which means Oscar Piastri has more power available to him at the moment.

Perhaps that’s the bit of luck that he needs, in that it’s an issue with his teammate’s engine and not his.

Given Lando’s virtual safety car issues in Madrid though, it seems the British driver can’t catch a break…

Mercedes pole sitter George Russell has refused to rule out teammate Kimi Antonelli as a threat to his victory hopes in today’s race, despite the championship leader starting in 16th.

“Obviously, you can’t discount Kimi,” Russell said

“You know, started 19th in Monza and now he’s in 16th, so, yeah, he should be leading by a few laps early this time,” Russell added.

I think he was only half joking, too.

That being said, Russell has looked good around the Baku Circuit this weekend, so should be confident of recording what would be an eighth Grand Prix victory.

“I’ve been feeling in a great spot this whole weekend,” said Russell said.

“You know, I’m just getting more and more on top of this car and what it requires, and it’s just all feeling more intuitive.

“I’m feeling good.

“I think we’re in a great place to go for the win but, of course, this is Baku and anything can happen … but whatever happens, I feel confident that we can go for the win.”

– with Reuters

Kimi Antonelli called the mistake that put him out of qualifying for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix “stupid” and said it had brought him back down to earth.

The 20-year-old leads Mercedes teammate George Russell by 81 points in the overall standings after 14 rounds, clobbered the wall at the first corner in the opening phase of qualifying and had to park up with a broken suspension.

He will start 16th with Russell storming to a dominant pole.

“I hit the wall and very unnecessary mistake so early on,” the Italian told F1TV.

“It’s a good way to come back to earth and to remind myself that I need to be on top of it every time because otherwise I do these mistakes and a very stupid one.”

Antonelli came into the weekend gunning for his third straight win and ninth of the season so far.

But a hydraulics issue during opening practice on Thursday cost the Italian valuable track time.

He has trailed Russell, who has looked far more at ease around the 6km Baku street track, ever since.

Nevertheless, he is hoping the speed of the Mercedes can help him fight back.

“I’m looking forward to tomorrow,” said Antonelli, who went from 19th to first at his home Italian Grand Prix in Monza.

“Hopefully we can recover many places.

“The car is quick. Hopefully tomorrow is going to be a good race.”

– Reuters

He was over 8-tenths of a second faster than anyone else in qualifying.

Sit back and enjoy George Russell’s lap.

Hello everyone and welcome to the ABC Sport coverage of the 2026 Formula 1 season.

My name is not Michael Doyle, who is away this weekend, so you’re stuck with me, Simon Smale, for what has regularly proven to be one of the most exciting races on the calendar, the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.

Yes it’s a Saturday, so it might take a bit of time to warm yourself up into F1-mode (we’ll get into why this race is taking place on Saturday and not Sunday in a minute or two) but we’ll do our best to get you into the mood as soon as we can.

Let’s start now, shall we?