Azerbaijan GP: George Russell fastest as Kimi Antonelli suffers hydraulics leak in Baku first practice

George Russell was fastest in first practice at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix as championship leader Kimi Antonelli stopped on track with a hydraulics issue. <p>Russell is 81 points behind Antonelli in the Drivers' Championship and must start gaining ground on his team-mate soon to avoid an early conclusion to the Formula 1 title race and he's started the event in Baku strongly.</p><p>The Mercedes driver was helped by a big slipstream from Fernando Alonso on his best lap to outpace Red Bull's Max Verstappen and both Ferraris by four tenths but showed great speed earlier in the session too.</p><ul><li><a href="https://www.skysports.com/f1/news/12433/13588823/azerbaijan-gp-2026-saturday-race-dates-schedule-baku-weather-uk-start-time-and-how-to-watch-or-stream-f1-live-on-sky-sports"><strong>Azerbaijan GP schedule: Why is the race on Saturday?</strong></a></li><li><strong><a href="https://www.skysports.com/f1/standings">F1 2026 standings</a> | <a href="https://www.skysports.com/f1/schedule-results">F1 2026 calendar</a> | <a href="https://www.skysports.com/f1/live-blog/12433/12466779/f1-news-rumours-and-gossip-formula-1-latest-updates-on-teams-driver-transfer-market-and-contracts">F1 Gossip Column</a></strong></li><li><a href="https://qrcode.skysports.com/skysports/ContentPromo" target="_blank"><strong>Download the Sky Sports app for expert analysis, best video & more</strong></a><strong>📱</strong></li><li><strong>Not got Sky?