Formula 1 heads to the Baku City Circuit for the 2026 Azerbaijan Grand Prix, a fixture that carries extra weight this season as the sport’s first-ever Saturday race in Baku. The winner market is shaping up as one of the most competitive of the year, with sportsbooks split on how much of a gap separates the front-runners from the chasing pack.
Event Preview
Kimi Antonelli sits as the outright favorite across multiple markets, with Mercedes also leading the winning-team betting. Lando Norris and George Russell round out the top three in most books, while Max Verstappen sits further back than usual for this stage of a season. Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton remain longer-shot options. The historic Saturday scheduling adds an extra layer of intrigue to a Baku weekend already known for its street-circuit unpredictability.
Azerbaijan Grand Prix – Winner Betting Odds Odds
| Driver | Stake | GG.BET | Sapphirebet |
| Kimi Antonelli | 2.20 | 2.23 | 2.26 |
| Lando Norris | 4.75 | 4.95 | 5.15 |
| George Russell | 6.20 | 6.60 | 7.00 |
| Max Verstappen | 8.00 | 9.35 | 10.70 |
| Lewis Hamilton | 9.00 | 9.60 | 10.20 |
| Charles Leclerc | 8.00 | 8.00 | 8.00 |
| Oscar Piastri | 26.00 | 27.00 | 28.00 |
| Liam Lawson | 100.00 | 151.00 | 201.00 |
Start Time
The 2026 Azerbaijan Grand Prix runs on Saturday 26 September at the Baku City Circuit, the first Saturday race in the event’s history. The switch is down to Azerbaijan’s Remembrance Day on Sunday 27 September, so the whole weekend moves forward 24 hours: practice on Thursday, qualifying on Friday at 16:00 local, and the 51-lap Grand Prix getting under way at 15:00 local time (UTC+4) on Saturday. It is not a first for the sport — Las Vegas has raced on a Saturday since 2023, and Bahrain and Saudi Arabia both did so in 2024.
- Central European Time: 13:00 CEST — Germany, France, Italy
- British Summer Time: 12:00 BST — United Kingdom, and the same clock time in Ireland
- Eastern Time: 07:00 EDT — East Coast United States and Canada
- Australian Eastern Time: 21:00 AEST — a Saturday-night watch on the east coast, with daylight saving not starting until 4 October
Baku rarely produces a boring Grand Prix, and Antonelli arrives as championship leader on 292 points, 81 clear of Mercedes team-mate George Russell, with Lewis Hamilton third on 191 and Lando Norris fourth on 186. With 233 points still on the table across the remaining nine rounds, a wall-lined circuit that has already caught out one title leader could shift the picture quickly. Follow TipsGG for more Formula 1 previews and betting coverage throughout the season.