Russell fastest as Antonelli suffers reliability issues in Baku first practice

George Russell made a strong start to the Azerbaijan Grand Prix by topping first practice as his Mercedes team-mate Kimi Antonelli had reliability woes; watch second practice in Baku later on Thursday at 1pm, with Qualifying on Friday also at 1pm, live on Sky Sports F1

George Russell was fastest in first practice at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix as championship leader Kimi Antonelli stopped on track with a hydraulics issue.

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 his 81-point lead to Russell and 100+ points advantage to Lewis Hamilton and Lando Norris quickly cut.

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.

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