Report: DNF in 2026 Azerbaijan GP

An early end in Baku but signs of race-pace progress for Alex

Published

26 SEP 2026

Est. reading time

2 min

Alex leaves Azerbaijan as one of six retirements in a high-attrition race around the Baku City Circuit where he retired after 29 tours of the track.

It was a disappointing end to Alex’s time in Azerbaijan where his team brought upgraded parts that advanced him to the cusp of the top 10 for his race start.

The faster car saw fights between Alex and Ollie Bearman over the first laps of the race, with Alex jumping from P12 to P11 when battling the Haas driver. The British racer fought back through the opening sector, though, and Alex settled into P12.

Bearman’s pace had him soon pass Liam Lawson, and the Racing Bulls driver became the focus of Alex’s attention instead. Lap 11 saw Alex get ahead of the Kiwi racer, but only briefly, with Lawson fighting back on the exit of Turn 1.

The scrap for P11 switched for a fight for P12 as Kimi Antonelli recovered from his crash in qualifying. With no defence to the speed of the Mercedes, the current championship leader passed both Alex and Lawson over a single lap to demote each one place apiece.

Alex eked out the grip of the Soft Pirelli tyres he started on, but there seemed very little chance of overtaking in the mostly processional first half of the race. Managing the gap to Lawson while keeping Esteban Ocon behind was how Alex spent his time.

Ocon closed in as the laps ticked past the halfway point, and the Haas made Alex work to stay in P13. Smart defending kept Ocon behind, but it also allowed Lawson to escape further up the road.

Sadly, for Alex, a lock up into Turn 5 meant his day ended in the barriers after some encouraging midfield racing.

Alex spoke about his time in Baku after the race:

“It was a weird crash if I'm honest. I braked a little bit later than the previous lap and there was a big wind gust which caught us out a little bit.

“When I had my moment, I thought I would lock up and run a bit wide; I never thought I was going to hit the wall. We'll look at the data.

“In terms of the update, I think it's exactly the step we expected. It's put us in a midfield fight. If you roll back to the start of the year the car was delayed and it was overweight.

“We had to start a project to make a new chassis and delivered it on time and on weight and that is a huge difference to eight months ago.

“Hopefully now this is a turning point, and we can explore this update more in Malaysia.”