0.196s of Separation: Russell's Baku Grand Slam Survives Verstappen Charge and a Turbo Scare

September 28, 2026 · 28 sources

Quick Hits

A grand slam by 0.196s. Russell took pole, led every lap and won his third race of 2026 — his first career grand slam — but needed the narrowest winning margin since 2002 to keep Verstappen (who started eighth) at bay, and later revealed a failure nearly cost him the win entirely.
Colapinto chaos, and its fallout. The Alpine driver's pile-up took out Gasly and Norris, earning a five-place grid penalty for Malaysia — plus a race-ban call from Norris that he later apologised for, an apology from Briatore, and another Alpine statement against online abuse.
Hadjar's heroic return. Straight from a wrist injury, Red Bull's sophomore jumped into the RB22 at one of the calendar's most demanding street circuits and walked away with a podium.
Ferrari sounding the alarm. Leclerc says McLaren and Red Bull "did a step forward that we didn't do"; Vasseur has promised SF-26 upgrades "soon".
Race week already. F1 rolls straight into the Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia amid haze concerns over air quality in Kuala Lumpur and Singapore.

Saturday's race was the Russell show that nearly wasn't: pole-to-flag through two safety car periods, with Verstappen carving up from P8 and falling just 0.196s short at the line. Verstappen called the margin "slightly misleading" — and Russell had already predicted on Friday that Verstappen would be his biggest threat even from the fourth row.
The win ended a seven-race drought for Russell, who admitted afterwards it "would have been very easy for me to lose the faith".
Hadjar completed the podium with an "exceptional comeback" drive to third, earning "team-mate points" in Alex Brundle's words — a cheeky verdict given who finishes ahead of him.
Piastri was running third after the second safety car before a late-race error he himself labelled "a bit weird" dropped him off the podium.
Championship leader Antonelli had a Sunday-driver encore to his Monza heroics: after tagging the wall he described himself as "driving like my grandmother", with Mercedes' Bradley Lord insisting "Monza 2.0" was never on the cards.
The supporting cast delivered classic Baku: Colapinto's pile-up brought out a safety car, Bottas crashed in the closing laps, and fan-filmed onboard footage showed Bortoleto threading between Hülkenberg's Audi, Pérez's Cadillac and Colapinto's stricken Alpine. Ten years on the calendar, the street circuit still produces.

Russell's pole set up the grand slam; Verstappen's P8 became the story of the race.
Colapinto's five-place grid penalty for the Malaysian round will shape the grid before anyone turns a wheel in practice.

Stewards were busy: Colapinto copped the five-place drop for causing the pile-up, Lindblad escaped penalty for spinning Lawson (who "doesn't understand" the call), a punishment was confirmed after the Safety Car confusion involving Bortoleto, a double investigation covered Sainz and Hadjar, and a decision was confirmed after the Bottas crash probe.
McLaren rolled out a major MCL40 upgrade signalling a new development path — yet analysis shows why the papaya cars were so much slower than Mercedes on Baku's straights. The sting: Mercedes has held fire on its biggest upgrades until Malaysia.
Williams delivered its own major Baku package, with Vowles praising the Grove factory's relentlessness.
Vasseur promised developments "soon" for the SF-26, telling AutoRacer that "the chassis can be improved faster than the engine".

The Norris–Colapinto saga came full circle: after demanding a race ban, the reigning champion apologised, while PlanetF1 examined whether the 'race ban' theory survives scrutiny from Verstappen, Hadjar and Russell — and whether the true culprit wasn't a driver at all.
Lindblad publicly apologised to Lawson after their Racing Bulls collision, with untelevised footage of the incident since emerging.
Vettel, four years removed from his fourth title era, says a future F1 role remains possible though he's not actively approaching teams.

Antonelli still leads the standings, but Russell's win cut his teammate's advantage. Motorsport.com's takeaways offer perspective, though: "there's no championship battle as such", and Russell's win didn't dramatically change his odds.
The competitive order is shifting behind them: Leclerc believes Red Bull now holds a clear chassis advantage over Ferrari, with McLaren markedly improved too.

It's race week for the Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia — and the meteorological wildcard is real: haze from Indonesian forest fires has made Kuala Lumpur and Singapore the world's two most polluted cities, with fans hoping the next fortnight of racing in the region goes smoothly.
Watch for Mercedes' significant upgrade package landing at last, Colapinto serving his five-place penalty, and Piastri and Antonelli both looking to bounce back from bruising Baku Sundays.