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

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.

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.

Antonelli lost 35 minutes of track time after a hydraulics issue forced him to stop, so he will be on the back foot heading into second practice later on Thursday at 1pm, live on Sky Sports F1 .

The Italian has won the last two races but Baku is one of the toughest tracks on the calendar and often throws up drama, so Antonelli is wary of how his 81-point lead over Russell and 100+ points advantage to Lewis Hamilton and Lando Norris could quickly be cut.

"In terms of Kimi's session, FP1 is the least representative session, so that's a blessing," said Sky Sports F1's Jamie Chadwick.

"The bigger concern is why they had the issue. We knew reliability was a big talking point for Mercedes earlier in the session; it seems to have been in a much better place the last few races especially, but that's going to be the biggest concern."

Hamilton and Charles Leclerc set their best times on the mediums, so will be hoping to be in contention for pole in Qualifying on Friday and the win in the race itself on Saturday afternoon.

Red Bull have brought some new parts to Baku including a revised floor, sidepod and mirrors and Verstappen looked very quick on the hard tyres early in the session.

Take away Russell's slipstream on his best lap and Red Bull appear to be in the fight at the front with Mercedes and Ferrari.

McLaren's Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris were sixth and 14th, over one second behind Russell despite having upgrades on their car.

McLaren's developments are mainly aerodynamic changes which will be more beneficial on high-speed non-street tracks and they have lots of time to find in the remaining two practice sessions.

At one point, Piastri thought he had damage on the car but the team told him there was nothing they could see, while Norris is yet to show his true pace.

Isack Hadjar, who was announced to stay at Red Bull for 2027, is back for the first time since July after missing the last three race weekends due to a wrist injury but lost 30 minutes of running due to an engine problem.

That means Liam Lawson returns to Racing Bulls and he has flown out of the blocks in seventh with team-mate Arvid Lindblad in eighth.

Esteban Ocon, who is set to be left without an F1 seat next year as Haas are expected to drop him, was ninth and Audi's Gabriel Bortoleto was 10th.

Williams' Carlos Sainz suffered a minor brakes fire early on, but it cost him little track time on a weekend the team have brought a significant upgrade package.

Thursday September 24 10.55am: F2 Qualifying* 12pm: Team Bosses' Press Conference 12.30pm: Azerbaijan GP Practice Two (session starts at 1pm) 2.15pm: The F1 Show

Friday September 25 5.10am: F2 Sprint* 9.15am: Azerbaijan GP Practice Three (session starts at 9.30am)* 11.10am: F2 Feature Race 1* 12.30pm: Azerbaijan GP Qualifying build-up* 1PM: AZERBAIJAN GP QUALIFYING* 3pm: Ted's Qualifying Notebook

Saturday September 26 7.55am: F2 Feature Race 2 10.30am: Grand Prix Sunday: Azerbaijan GP build-up* 12PM: THE AZERBAIJAN GRAND PRIX* 2pm: Chequered Flag: Azerbaijan GP reaction* 3pm: Ted's Notebook*

Racing on a Saturday! The 2026 Formula 1 season continues live on Sky Sports F1 this week as the Azerbaijan Grand Prix kicks off a triple-header of races, with the Baku race taking place on Saturday at midday. Stream Sky Sports with NOW - no contract, cancel anytime