Mercedes established a commanding advantage on the opening day of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix weekend, while Ferrari was left questioning whether its initial Baku setup had taken the SF-26 in the wrong direction. George Russell and Kimi Antonelli created a substantial gap over the opposition, whereas Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton struggled for grip and were unable to show competitive pace in either qualifying or race simulations.
The W17 looked particularly effective in the hands of George Russell, who dictated the pace throughout the session and built large margins over the competition. Kimi Antonelli, meanwhile, needed only a limited number of representative laps to beat the rest of the field despite having completed fewer laps than several rivals. Red Bull emerged as the strongest challenger, although Max Verstappen was still unable to match Mercedes around the Baku City Circuit.
Mercedes dominates as Baku places energy recovery in the spotlight
The recharge limit played a fundamental role in shaping Thursday’s competitive picture in Baku. Although the stop-start nature of the circuit creates numerous opportunities to recover energy, there are also many acceleration zones where that stored electrical power can immediately be deployed. The 8.5 MJ threshold imposed by the FIA is among the highest of the season, behind only Shanghai, Monaco and Budapest, favouring power units that can replenish their State of Charge efficiently.
That energy challenge was expected to be one of the defining technical themes of the weekend, particularly after the FIA’s configuration highlighted how important energy deployment across Baku’s long acceleration zones would become under the 2026 regulations.
Ferrari was notably absent from the fight at the front. The SF-26 once again looked like a faded version of the car seen at the beginning of the summer, struggling for mid-corner grip while its power unit continued to pay a significant price relative to the strongest package whenever electrical energy became scarce.
McLaren may still be hiding performance behind Mercedes
Telemetry from the fastest laps showed Lando Norris’ McLaren losing almost one second to the Mercedes W17 on the straights. Based on the characteristics seen from the MCL40’s previous specification, McLaren still appears to carry a meaningful efficiency deficit relative to the benchmark, but nothing that would normally explain such a dramatic margin.
It would not be unusual this season for McLaren to begin a weekend conservatively before making a significant step overnight, helped in part by more aggressive power-unit modes later in the event. Rob Marshall remained relatively positive after FP2.
“It seems to me that the car is responding as we would like. The aerodynamic configuration seems quite satisfactory; now it’s just a matter of fine-tuning the performance,” Rob Marshall said.
The Woking car was also missing a considerable amount of performance in the corners, however, where roughly another half-second was lost. Much of that deficit developed through the middle of the circuit, particularly between Turn 7 and the Castle section.
Why Mercedes holds such a major Baku advantage
During FP2, George Russell and Kimi Antonelli were able to exploit a noticeably higher level of grip than the other leading teams. Pirelli expects the track to gain grip rapidly as the weekend progresses, but the key question is whether that evolution, combined with overnight work from McLaren, Red Bull and Ferrari, will be enough to close the gap.
One advantage that is unlikely to disappear while the recharge limit remains equal for everyone is Mercedes’ strength along Baku’s acceleration zones. The W17 gains several tenths on the final straight, but it also accumulates valuable hundredths through the numerous shorter bursts of acceleration in the middle sector. Those small gains eventually become tenths over the complete lap.
The differences in acceleration and maximum speed can be examined further through the ScuderiaFans F1 Top Speed Comparison.
With McLaren apparently still holding something back, Mercedes currently possesses an efficiency level no other car appears able to replicate. The Brackley team can distribute its available performance across the lap without having to sacrifice one of Baku’s major straights to protect another. The broader strength of the package has been one of the defining features of the Mercedes W17 during the 2026 season.
On the current evidence, without an FIA intervention to lower the recharge limit towards values more manageable for the other power units, preventing Mercedes from dominating the weekend could prove extremely difficult.
Max Verstappen and Red Bull emerge as the closest challengers
The most encouraging performance among Mercedes’ rivals came from Red Bull and Max Verstappen. Baku appears particularly well suited to the RB22 because its corner profile is dominated by medium- and low-speed sections, allowing the car to hide some of the aerodynamic shortcomings that continue to hurt it more severely at high-speed circuits.
Even so, the 2025 world championship runner-up could not approach George Russell through the Castle section. The British driver was effectively unmatched there in both corner entry and minimum-speed performance. Much of the remaining gap then accumulated along the major straights, where the Mercedes power unit again appeared to be the strongest package on the grid.
Race simulations painted a slightly more competitive picture. Max Verstappen was the closest driver to George Russell’s short medium-tyre stint, with roughly two tenths separating them. McLaren followed a few tenths behind the Dutch driver, while Ferrari remained further back. The evolving long-run picture can be explored through the F1 Practice & Long-Run Analysis.
Ferrari suffers its most difficult opening day of the season
It was not the start Ferrari had hoped for. Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton were never truly competitive and, based on the underlying performance across both sessions rather than simply the finishing positions, the SF-26 appeared to be operating as the fourth force.
The problems were broadly similar in both qualifying and race simulations. A lack of grip heavily compromised performance, particularly through the middle sector – precisely the part of the circuit that had been expected to suit Ferrari.
On a track where the differences between the 2026 power units were unusually clear, the striking element was that Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton lost most of their lap time in the corners rather than solely on the straights. That points towards a problem extending beyond energy deployment and into the mechanical behaviour of the car.
The issue presented itself slightly differently for the two Ferrari drivers. Charles Leclerc could not reproduce the degree of rotation achieved by George Russell, while Lewis Hamilton was able to rotate the SF-26 but frequently had to enter the corner at a significantly lower speed.
Charles Leclerc’s second lap on the softer compound, which was aborted only a few metres before the finish line, would have brought the Monegasque driver closer to Max Verstappen. Even with that improvement, however, Mercedes would still have remained in a separate category.
Did Ferrari choose the wrong baseline setup for Baku?
The only genuine flash of encouraging Ferrari performance arrived on the final lap of the race simulation, when Charles Leclerc produced a time only a few tenths away from the best laps set by Mercedes and Max Verstappen.
The broader impression, however, was that the baseline setup selected before arriving in Azerbaijan did not provide enough grip to fight the leading rivals. Ferrari appeared to be the weakest of the top teams through the more technical parts of the circuit, something that has rarely been the case during the 2026 season.
The result is particularly notable given the mechanical compromises already seen with the SF-26. Ferrari has previously encountered difficulties when attempting to balance aerodynamic efficiency against mechanical compliance, an issue highlighted by the stiff SF-26 setup compromise seen at Madring. The latest developments can also be followed through the site’s Ferrari technical analysis.
Fred Vasseur acknowledged that tyre behaviour had added another layer of uncertainty to the opening day.
“We struggled a little with the tyres, I think that happened to the others as well,” Fred Vasseur explained.
The Ferrari team principal also stressed how dramatically normal performance variables can influence lap time at Baku compared with a more conventional circuit.
“I think it is a challenge where the performance parameters are also making bigger steps than at a normal track. If you have 10 kilos more fuel and you lose five tenths, but we’ll see tomorrow.”
Ferrari data points towards ADUO 2 running for Charles Leclerc
The power-unit picture provided another important element for Ferrari to analyse overnight. The available data suggests that Charles Leclerc completed Thursday’s running with the ADUO 2 specification, which needed to be tested as the team evaluates its options for the following day and the possibility of a grid penalty.
Lewis Hamilton, by contrast, continued with Ferrari’s normal power-unit rotation programme and is believed to have used one of the other units already available in his pool.
That distinction matters at a circuit where electrical energy management has become such a central performance factor. Ferrari already arrived in Azerbaijan facing questions over whether the SF-26 could combine sufficient energy deployment with an efficient low-drag configuration, part of the wider difficult technical outlook for the Baku weekend.
The task now is not simply to extract more from the power unit. Ferrari must first understand why the SF-26 is lacking so much grip through the middle sector and determine whether overnight setup changes can restore the cornering performance that has normally been one of the car’s more reliable qualities. Mercedes may remain difficult to challenge regardless, but the more immediate objective for Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton is to ensure Ferrari does not remain behind Red Bull and McLaren when qualifying begins.
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