Azerbaijan GP team radio: the messages that explain Baku, from Russell's lost power to Gasly's lost points
The best team radio from the 2026 Azerbaijan Grand Prix, with the audio and a colour-coded transcript. George Russell explains the last lap that nearly cost him the win, Pierre Gasly reacts to being taken out by his own team mate, and Isack Hadjar takes a podium with a gearbox vibration.
Our archive holds 31 team radio messages from the 2026 Azerbaijan Grand Prix, from twelve drivers. These are the ones that explain the race.
George Russell won by 0.196 seconds, the closest finish in the ten races Baku has held. The reason the margin was that small is not in the timing sheets. It is on the radio, in something Russell said on the slowing down lap.
"I had no power. I thought he was going to get us."
Russell crossed the line 0.196 seconds ahead of Max Verstappen. On lap 50 he had been 0.942 seconds ahead, and his final lap was seven tenths slower than Verstappen's.
Valtteri Bottas had stopped at Turn 15, and race control put out a double yellow there on the last lap. Russell had to lift.
"I lost, after that double yellow, I lost a boost. I had no power. I thought he was going to get us."
His engineer, in the same exchange: "It's been a hard job. Great job this weekend, mate. Really good." And then, on the fight with Verstappen: "Made you work for your money."
"0.1, 0.1!"
Verstappen started eighth and was more than twelve seconds behind on lap 30. Two safety cars later he was 0.388 seconds behind, and he stayed within a second for thirteen laps without finding a way past.
His engineer: "0.1, 0.1! Would've been a very good win. Good job guys! Well done Max, that's what you call fighting for the win, I think the win is not too far."
Earlier in the race, when Verstappen was pushing to get past, the same engineer had told him to wait:
"Understand Max, but it's trap position and risk, just be patient."
"So many f***ing points gone."
On lap 36, one lap after the first restart, Franco Colapinto locked up at Turn 1, hit his own Alpine team mate Pierre Gasly and put Lando Norris into the run off. All three retired. Alpine had both cars inside the points and scored none, and Colapinto was given a ten second penalty for causing the collision.
Gasly: "Oh my f*ing god, I can't believe it, I can't believe it, so many f*ing points gone." His engineer: "I'm sorry about that."
Two hours earlier, on the way to the grid, the same pair had sounded very different:
"Come on, let's have a good day, guys."
"I love getting taken up by my teammate"
Gasly was not the only driver hit by a team mate. At Turn 1 the stewards also looked at contact between the Racing Bulls of Arvid Lindblad and Liam Lawson. Lawson stayed in the race and finished twelfth.
"Man, I love getting taken up by my teammate. That's pretty sick."
Hadjar was a third of the radio in his first race back
Isack Hadjar had missed three races with a fractured wrist. He came back in Baku, qualified fourth and finished third, and twelve of the 31 messages in our archive from this race are his, more than any other driver.
Most of them are the ordinary traffic of a driver managing a race he cannot see the end of. This one is the exception. His engineer reported a problem, and he had already felt it:
Engineer: "so we do see some vibration in the gearbox, nothing on tyres at present, nothing on brakes". Hadjar: "yeah I feel this, also going into turn 2, hope nothing too bad because it doesn't sound really good ok".
Earlier, running in a train, he was asked what clear air would be worth:
"Two, three tenths, certainly."
And when the car ahead started to struggle, he wanted the pressure kept on:
Carlos Sainz finished tenth for Williams and scored a point. It did not sound like a good afternoon.
"whatever is different on the car to a private, clearly affecting us, with the tyres or something, there's no pace in this car"
Automatic transcription garbles the first half of that message, which is why we have quoted it exactly as the transcript reads rather than tidying it up. The audio is on the clip.
What this measures, and what it does not
Our 2026 coverage begins at the Canadian Grand Prix. The archive captures radio live during each session, and authentication was not working before Canada, so the first four races of 2026 are missing. Baku is a fully captured weekend.
A count of messages is a count of what was broadcast and captured, not of everything said in the cars. Radio played before a session starts is never captured.
Speaker labels come from the archive's own attribution, driver or engineer, line by line. Where the label and the words disagree we say so rather than choosing silently.
Quotes are verbatim. Where a transcript is garbled we quote it as it reads.
Frequently asked questions
Why did George Russell nearly lose the 2026 Azerbaijan Grand Prix?
He lifted for a double yellow at Turn 15 on the final lap, where Valtteri Bottas had stopped. His last lap was seven tenths slower than Verstappen's and he won by 0.196 seconds.
What did Pierre Gasly say after retiring in Baku?
"Oh my f*ing god, I can't believe it, I can't believe it, so many f*ing points gone." He had been taken out by his own Alpine team mate.
Where can I listen to F1 team radio from the Azerbaijan Grand Prix?
Every message, audio and transcript: our own team radio archive
Lap times, flags, penalties and the classification: official F1 timing via FastF1
Hear the next race as it happens
Russell explained the last lap about 90 seconds after he crossed the line, and most people never heard it.
The Formula Dream app plays live driver radio as it is broadcast, with the transcript running beside it, collects every FIA document of the weekend as the stewards publish it, and carries a live timing Dashboard, currently in beta.
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Max VerstappenRed Bull · Azerbaijan Grand Prix 2026 · Race · 16:43:34 local
Engineer0.1, 0.1! Would've been a very good win. Good job guys! Well done Max, that's what you call fighting for the win, I think the win is not too far. So, super strong weekend, you were untouchable all weekend.
