Street walls, a Saturday race start, and a big R26 parts drop. Audi Revolut F1 Team is in Baku for the Formula 1 Qatar Airways Azerbaijan Grand Prix 2026 — Round 15, 24–26 September — first race of an Asian triple-header before Malaysia and Singapore.
Point in Madrid, walls in Baku
Madrid paid off again: Nico Hülkenberg P10 for a point, Audi’s fifth top-ten in the last six races. Next stop is the 6.003 km Baku City Circuit — 51 laps, 306.049 km. First GP here was 2016. Race lap record still sits at 1:43.009 (Charles Leclerc, 2019).
Long straights, a tight castle section, and walls that do not forgive. Classic Baku.
Formula 1’s upgrade list shows Audi brought roughly 14 new R26 parts this weekend: new front wing and nose, revised front suspension fairings, updated floor and bodywork, plus rear-wing and rear-suspension changes. Midfield fight gets another hardware roll of the dice.
Thursday practice already in the books
Cars already ran. FP1: Gabriel Bortoleto P10 (1:46.688), Hülkenberg P11 (1:46.871). FP2: Bortoleto P14 (1:45.794), Hülkenberg P15 (1:45.854). Close midfield, no fireworks yet. Friday quali and Saturday’s race still write the story.
What the team is saying
Racing director Allan McNish, from the 21 September Content Hub preview: “Madrid was another encouraging weekend for us, and I was pleased with how the team operated. We maximised our potential, and another point was a good reward for that effort: now we need to keep moving in that direction. Baku is the first of three races in a row, so it will be a busy few weeks for everyone – not least because they are three heavily physical races for both drivers and crews. Our focus will be on doing our job well, continuing to improve and putting ourselves in the best possible position to be in the fight for more points.”
Hülkenberg (#27): “We’ve been consistently fighting around the points over the last few weekends, and that’s where we want to stay. Baku is one of those circuits where things can change quickly, so if we put everything together and have a clean weekend, there should be opportunities. What we can expect is for the battle around our positions to be quite close, as in the previous rounds, so we will need to execute well.”
Bortoleto (#5): “Madrid wasn’t the easiest weekend for me, but we were close to Q3 once again and our pace was quite good, so I’m keen to pick up where we left off. We have been fighting very close to the points recently, and we know our car has the potential to get into the top ten, so the aim is to keep pushing in that direction. We usually see some really interesting racing in Baku, and I’m ready to get back in the car and see what we can do.”
When it runs (Baku / ET)
Toronto sits eight hours behind Baku. FP1 Thursday 08:30–09:30 local (12:30–1:30 a.m. ET) — done. FP2 Thursday 12:00–13:00 (4–5 a.m. ET) — done. FP3 Friday 08:30–09:30 (12:30–1:30 a.m. ET). Qualifying Friday 12:00–13:00 (4–5 a.m. ET). Race Saturday 11:00 local — 3:00 a.m. ET. Saturday race, not Sunday. Set the alarm.
Cheering Audi through the castle section and shopping a used one on the driveway this weekend? Grab our free Audi PPI Checklist — short buyer’s guide before you wire the deposit.
Sources: Audi Revolut F1 Team, 2026 Azerbaijan Grand Prix preview; Audi Revolut F1 Team; Formula 1 — every team’s Baku upgrades; Formula 1, Azerbaijan GP 2026.