Azerbaijan F1 GP takes place on Saturday: schedules, where to watch and more

Formula 1 decides this Saturday (26) the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, the 15th round of the 2026 season, starting at 8 am (Brasília time) on the Baku street circuit. The race was brought forward by one day because Sunday (27) is the Day of Remembrance in the country, a date of national mourning in honor of those killed in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict in 2020.

Therefore, free practice started on Thursday (24), and the qualifying that defines the grid is held this Friday (25), at 9 am.

The stage will not be broadcast live on TV Globo. The broadcaster had announced, in December 2025, that it would show 15 of the 24 races of the year on open TV, and Baku was among the races off the grid. Complete coverage is with SporTV 3, Globoplay and F1 TV Pro, the category’s own streaming service.

Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli arrives in Azerbaijan with 292 points and an 81-point lead over teammate George Russell, after winning the Spanish Grand Prix, held at the new Madrid circuit.

Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton is third with 191, followed by McLaren’s reigning champion Lando Norris with 186. Mercedes has won 10 of the 14 races in the championship, eight of them with the Italian. Audi’s Brazilian Gabriel Bortoleto is 14th with ten points.

The 6.003 km and 20-turn track combines narrow sections in the old city, with walls glued to the track, and a straight of about 2.2 km on the edge of the Caspian Sea. The race will have 51 laps, for a total of 306.049 km. For this edition, Pirelli took the C3, C4 and C5 compounds, one step harder than those used in 2025.

Baku hosts F1 for the tenth time. The track debuted in 2016, as the European GP, and went on to host the Azerbaijan GP the following year; in 2020, the race was canceled because of the Covid-19 pandemic. Max Verstappen and Sergio Pérez are the biggest winners at the circuit, with two wins each. The Dutchman, winner of the 2025 edition, could become the first driver to win three times in the Azerbaijani capital.

Schedule and where to watch the 2026 Azerbaijan GP

• Pay TV: SporTV 3, with a signal also on SporTV 4K, shows all sessions live;
• Streaming: Globoplay, in the plan with live channels, and F1 TV Pro;
• Open TV: Globo shows only the best moments of the race, in the early hours of Saturday to Sunday, around 0:45 am, after Altas Horas.

How was free practice in Baku

Russell was the fastest in both sessions on Thursday. In the second practice, he set a time of 1min43s347 and led a Mercedes one-two, with Antonelli 0s552 behind. Red Bull’s Verstappen was third, ahead of the Ferraris of Charles Leclerc and Hamilton. The activity was interrupted by a red flag after Arvid Lindblad crashed hard at the entrance to the castle section.

Bortoleto was tenth in the first practice and dropped to 14th in the second, with a time of 1:45.794, one position ahead of teammate Nico Hülkenberg. Audi brought to Baku modifications to 14 components, including wings, floor, diffuser and suspensions, according to the Grand Prix website. After the session, the Brazilian reported a lack of grip and said that the team had not yet identified the cause of the problem.

In the third practice, this Friday, Verstappen turned the tables in the final minutes: he did 1min43s922 and beat Russell by 0s099. It was the first time in the year that the Dutchman led a FP3. Hamilton finished third, 0s111 behind, and Antonelli fourth. The strong wind took several cars off the track, and Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll hit the wall at turn 1 and did not return to the session. Bortoleto ended the preparation in 13th, 1s932 behind the leader, ahead of Hülkenberg, 15th.