Winners and losers from Baku F1 practice

Formula 1 Winners and losers from Baku F1 practice The Race Team 24 Sep 2026 — 5 min read The Azerbaijan Grand Prix weekend has begun with Mercedes in early-2026 form, in both pace and reliability.

Here's how teams up and down the grid stacked up on this rare Thursday of track action - and what they had to say afterwards.

Mercedes insists the gap is not "representative" because it managed more proper push laps than its immediate rivals and "every timed lap you did, the laptimes were improving".

Even so, Russell is in as strong a position as you really can be coming out of practice day, with a car that seems to have an edge of some degree and a team-mate who is on the back foot due to unreliability (and anyway should be super-happy to settle for second if it comes to that).