F1 | Russell charges to pole position as Antonelli suffers shock exit in Qualifying for Azerbaijan GP

George Russell clinched his fifth pole position of the 2026 season in a remarkably competitive Qualifying hour for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, with the Briton finding himself as the lone Mercedes driver after Kimi Antonelli crashed out of Q1.

It looked like four teams would be in contention for the top spot, but Russell improved with every lap in Q3 to establish a dramatic advantage of eight tenths over Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, ending the session with a time of 1m 42.526s.

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