F1 leader Kimi Antonelli hits the wall in Azerbaijan Grand Prix qualifying
- On Friday, Sept. 25, 2026, championship leader Andrea Kimi Antonelli crashed during qualifying for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix in Baku, hitting the wall at Turn 1 and sustaining terminal damage to his Mercedes.
- The Italian, who holds an 81-point lead this season, committed his first major error of the title quest by misjudging the opening corner.
- After clipping the wall, Antonelli attempted to limp back to the pits but race engineer Peter Bonnington instructed him to park the stricken machine due to suspension and wheel damage.
- Starting Saturday's race from 16th place, Antonelli now faces a grid disadvantage that allows Mercedes team-mate George Russell to potentially close the championship gap.
- Despite winning eight of 14 rounds this season, this qualifying setback marks the first significant challenge to Antonelli's world championship pursuit.
52 Articles
52 Articles
George Russell dominated the qualifying sessions on the Baku street circuit.
George Russell confirmed the forecasts and took pole in the ranking of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. Beyond the British's first place, he fought with Kimi Antonelli out of the equation for his clash against the wall at Q1, the great news this Friday was that Carlos Sainz managed to move on to ... Continue reading "Russell achieves pole in Baku without Antonelli and Sainz achieves his first Q3 of the year with Alonso last by sanction"
Qualifications of Azerbaijan's GP finished in Q1 for Kimi Antonelli, who at the end of the session bumped against a curved wall, damaging the left front suspension of the...
Leclerc was second and Piastri third. Sainz achieved a meritorious ninth place and Fernando Alonso finished 19th. More information: The pain of a war that left almost 7,000 dead: the reasons why the Azerbaijani GP is held on Saturday
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