Two Safety Cars in Baku Leave McLaren Empty-Handed
The Azerbaijan Grand Prix was interrupted by two Safety Cars as the race swung on two separate crashes. Alex Albon triggered the first when he crashed at Turn 5 on lap 31, and the second came moments after the restart when Franco Colapinto locked up heavily into Turn 1, sparking a chain-reaction pile-up. Lando Norris was eliminated outright in that crash, and Oscar Piastri suffered a separate lock-up later in the race that dropped him out of the points, leaving McLaren with almost nothing to show for the weekend.
The Turn 1 pile-up
Moments after the lap 36 restart, Colapinto locked up heavily into Turn 1. The incident collected his own teammate Pierre Gasly, plus Norris and Racing Bulls' Arvid Lindblad, whose car punched a hole in Liam Lawson's floor. Stewards ruled that 'the limited space and the chain reaction ahead' were the primary cause of the incident, and took no action against Lindblad. Norris was scathing after the race, saying 'there are some drivers that shouldn't be in Formula 1' in reference to Colapinto.
The first Safety Car had come earlier, on lap 31 at Turn 5, when Albon crashed into the barriers while fighting Esteban Ocon for position. Albon confirmed he was unhurt and admitted afterwards that the crash was 'my fault'.
Piastri drops from third to 14th
On lap 40, Piastri suffered his own incident at Turn 1, locking up both front tyres momentarily and sliding into the run-off area. He fell from third to as low as 15th before recovering to finish 14th. 'I didn't think I braked super late or super hard, just instantly locked both fronts,' he said afterwards.
Penalties and the weekend's fallout
Colapinto was handed a 10-second penalty for causing the first-restart collision, but since he also failed to finish the race, the penalty was converted into a five-place grid drop for next weekend's Malaysian Grand Prix. Albon received no further penalty beyond the DNF.
With Norris and Piastri both leaving Baku empty-handed, Mercedes locked out a 1-5 result through George Russell's win and Kimi Antonelli's fifth place, while McLaren came away from the round with almost nothing.
Sources
- RacingNews365 - George Russell denies Max Verstappen in Baku as Franco Colapinto sparks Alpine disaster
- The Race - Russell denies Verstappen in Azerbaijan GP punctuated by two safety cars
- The Race - Shock inaction over Baku's other F1 team-mate clash explained
- GPFans - F1 Azerbaijan Grand Prix 2026 results: final classification with all penalties applied
- Motorsport Week - Russell reigns in Azerbaijan GP battle with Verstappen
- ABC News - George Russell wins Formula 1 Azerbaijan Grand Prix, Oscar Piastri spins late to finish 14th