George Russell Claims pole in Baku

George Russell called his lap in Azerbaijan “the perfect lap,” which earned him pole position for Mercedes with a commanding win by .837 seconds over Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc.

With free practice mainly being a tight race between Ferrari, Red Bull, McLaren and Mercedes, qualifying was a very interesting session as George's teammate Kimi Antonelli crashed in Q1, which qualified him 16th. Escape the fight for pole position with a much wider opening, heading into round three of qualifying.

It was extremely close going down to the wire, and despite his best efforts from his rival drivers, Mercedes’s British driver improved every lap to claim pole position at a time of 1m 42.526 seconds. Russell said that the car felt good and he felt he was in a good position, saying, “ 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 could happen. George’s claimed his fifth pole position of the 2026 season, his first since Austria at the Red Bull Ring.