This week's Azerbaijan Grand Prix will be decided on Saturday 26 September rather than Sunday. The 27th is Azerbaijan's Remembrance Day, so the promoter and government officials asked for the race to be brought forward by a day, and F1 agreed. Practice therefore moves to Thursday, qualifying to Friday, and the race gets under way at 15:00 local time on Saturday, 11:00 UTC.
Why 27 September matters
27 September marks the start of the Second Nagorno-Karabakh War in 2020. According to PlanetF1, around 2,900 Azerbaijani soldiers lost their lives in that conflict, and Azerbaijan commemorates the date as a national day of remembrance. ESPN reported that the race was moved from Sunday 27th to Saturday 26th "at the request of the Azerbaijan promoter and relevant government officials". ESPN added that the Saturday slot applies to the 2026 event only, and that Baku has always held its race on a Sunday until now.
Session schedule, local time and UTC
The local and UK times listed by PlanetF1 and Sky Sports put Baku three hours ahead of British Summer Time (BST, UTC+1), which makes Baku UTC+4. The UTC column below is therefore the local time minus four hours.
| Session | Date | Local (Baku) | UTC |
|---|---|---|---|
| Practice 1 | Thu 24 Sep | 12:30 | 08:30 |
| Practice 2 | Thu 24 Sep | 16:00 | 12:00 |
| Practice 3 | Fri 25 Sep | 12:30 | 08:30 |
| Qualifying | Fri 25 Sep | 16:00 | 12:00 |
| Race | Sat 26 Sep | 15:00 | 11:00 |
The race is scheduled over 51 laps, and PlanetF1 also notes the maximum time limit of 120 minutes. Sky Sports says its UK coverage of first practice begins at 9am, half an hour before the session, but the table lists session start times only. Wednesday the 23rd is media day.
Not the first Saturday race
As ESPN points out, the Las Vegas GP has run on a Saturday night since 2023, and in 2024 the Bahrain and Saudi Arabian GPs were held on Saturdays because of Ramadan. Saturday races were also common in F1's early years. This will, however, be Baku's first.
The change hands the teams some unexpected breathing room. ESPN notes that they gain a day in a triple-header that requires a trip of around 3,400 miles from Baku to Malaysia, with Friday practice at Sepang to follow.
The standings and the weather
According to Sky Sports, Kimi Antonelli leads the drivers' championship by 81 points after back-to-back wins at Monza and Madrid, with eight rounds to follow Baku. PlanetF1 reports that Max Verstappen is chasing a third Baku win, while Sergio Pérez, the 2021 and 2023 winner, races for Cadillac this year. The Baku City Circuit is 3.7 miles long and includes the season's longest straight at 1.4 miles, while the Castle section at Turns 8-9 is just 7.6m wide between the barriers at its narrowest point. The forecast is warm and dry throughout the weekend, with highs in the mid-20s Celsius.