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Ten Formula 1 races have been held at the Baku City Circuit since 2016. Only four were won from pole, Charles Leclerc started first four years running without winning, and Daniel Ricciardo won from tenth. Every winner, grid slot, safety car and red flag, measured.
Charles Leclerc started the Azerbaijan Grand Prix from pole four years running, from 2021 to 2024. He did not win any of them.
That is Baku in one line. Ten Formula 1 races have been held on the Baku City Circuit, and only four were won from pole. The winner has come from as far back as tenth on the grid. A full safety car has come out in six of the ten, and a safety car or a virtual one in nine. The most recent of them, in 2026, was decided by 0.196 seconds.
Every radio message from the 2026 race is in our Azerbaijan Grand Prix 2026 race radio archive, including George Russell explaining the last lap, with the audio and a transcript coloured by who is speaking. The 2021 race, below, is all here.
| Year | Winner | Team | Started | Pole |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | Pole | Rosberg |
| 2017 | Daniel Ricciardo | Red Bull | 10th | Hamilton |
| 2018 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 2nd | Vettel |
| 2019 | Valtteri Bottas | Mercedes | Pole | Bottas |
| 2021 | Sergio Perez | Red Bull | 6th | Leclerc |
| 2022 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | 3rd | Leclerc |
| 2023 | Sergio Perez | Red Bull | 3rd | Leclerc |
| 2024 | Oscar Piastri | McLaren | 2nd | Leclerc |
| 2025 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | Pole | Verstappen |
| 2026 | George Russell | Mercedes | Pole | Russell |
| Year | Safety cars | Virtual safety cars | Red flag |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | 0 | 0 | No |
| 2017 | 3 | 0 | Yes |
| 2018 | 2 | 0 | No |
| 2019 | 0 | 1 | No |
| 2021 | 2 | 0 | Yes |
| 2022 | 0 | 2 | No |
| 2023 | 1 | 0 | No |
| 2024 | 0 | 1 | No |
| 2025 | 1 | 0 | No |
| 2026 | 2 | 0 | No |
The pattern is not random. Baku combines a flat-out run of more than two kilometres with a castle section where the walls are seven metres apart, so a small mistake ends against concrete, and almost no tyre wear, so every team runs a similar one-stop plan. When a safety car comes, it hands whoever has not yet stopped a cheap pit stop. Why the circuit works like that is in the Baku City Circuit explained.
The race that made Baku's reputation had three safety cars and a red flag. Daniil Kvyat stopped on track, Kimi Raikkonen's car dropped debris on the main straight, and the two Force Indias collided, before the race was stopped on lap 22 so marshals could clear the track. Ricciardo, tenth on the grid, came through the restarts to win. Lance Stroll finished third for Williams, his first podium.
Max Verstappen was leading comfortably when his left rear tyre failed on the main straight with a handful of laps left. The race was red-flagged and restarted from a standing start for a two-lap sprint. When Lewis Hamilton heard about the crash, his first question was for Verstappen:
"Is he okay?" His engineer: "Yeah, he's fine." At the restart Hamilton locked up at turn 1 with a brake setting accidentally switched on, and went straight on, out of the points. He apologised to the team:
"Oh, I'm so sorry guys." Sergio Perez won for Red Bull, from sixth on the grid, and thought of his team mate first:
"Thank you guys. Thank you, and I'm very sorry for Max". Sebastian Vettel was second for Aston Martin from eleventh, and Pierre Gasly third.
Leclerc has been fast in Baku from the start. As a rookie for Sauber in 2018 he finished sixth, his first points in Formula 1. From 2021 he took four straight poles for Ferrari, and each race slipped away in a different way: fourth in 2021, retirement with a power unit failure in 2022, third behind two Red Bulls in 2023, and second in 2024, when Oscar Piastri passed him and held on. In 2025 he started tenth and finished ninth. His 2026 season is measured in Charles Leclerc's 2026.
The tenth Baku race was the first held on a Saturday and the first with the new cars, and it followed the pattern exactly. George Russell took pole by 0.837 seconds and led every lap. Then Alex Albon hit the barrier at Turn 6 and the safety car came out on lap 31, and one lap after the restart Franco Colapinto locked up at Turn 1, hit his own team mate Pierre Gasly and took Lando Norris out with them, which brought the second safety car.
A lead of 12.5 seconds on lap 30 became 0.388 seconds at the lap 38 restart. Russell held Max Verstappen off for thirteen laps and won by 0.196, losing seven tenths on the final lap alone in a double yellow zone at Turn 15. Isack Hadjar was third on his return from a broken wrist.
The whole race, with the radio and the timing behind it, is in the Azerbaijan GP 2026 results, and the championship after it is in the 2026 standings.
Winners, grid positions, poles and finishers come from Formula 1's official timing data via FastF1.
Safety cars, virtual safety cars and red flags are counted from race control messages for 2018 onward. Race control data is not available for 2016 and 2017, so those two rows come from race reports.
Quotes are taken only from lines where the speaker label and the words agree.
Sergio Perez and Max Verstappen, with two each. Perez won in 2021 and 2023, Verstappen in 2022 and 2025.
George Russell, from pole, for Mercedes, by 0.196 seconds from Max Verstappen. Isack Hadjar was third.
A full safety car has come out in six of the ten races, and a safety car or virtual safety car in nine. The 2016 race is the only one with neither.
No. He took pole four years running, from 2021 to 2024, and his best result is second, in 2024.
Baku is the race that turns on a single safety car, and in 2026 it took two of them in six laps to turn a comfortable win into a 0.196 second one.
The Formula Dream app plays live driver radio as it is broadcast, transcript beside the audio, and collects every FIA document of the weekend as it is published. There is also a live timing Dashboard, currently in beta, with flag and safety car alerts.
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Five Miami Grands Prix have been held since 2022, and only one was won from pole: Kimi Antonelli's in 2026. Max Verstappen won from ninth in 2023, and Lando Norris took his first win there in 2024. Every winner, grid slot and safety car, measured.
DriverIs he okay?
EngineerYeah, he's fine.
DriverOh, I'm so sorry guys.
EngineerYeah, don't sweat it Lewis, don't sweat it.
DriverThank you guys. Thank you, and I'm very sorry for Max, but
EngineerEnjoy your moment up there with Pierre. Good to see up there proud of you.
DriverThat was epic, that was epic
