Azerbaijan GP 2026: Saturday Race, Full Schedule & UK Times — SkimNews
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- Azerbaijan GP shifted to Saturday September 26 because September 27 is the country's Remembrance Day, moving Practice One and Two to Thursday, Qualifying to Friday and the race to Saturday
- Kimi Antonelli leads the championship by 81 points after consecutive wins at Monza and Madrid, with eight rounds remaining after Baku
- The Baku City Circuit joined the F1 calendar in 2016 and features the season's longest straight at 1.4 miles where drivers exceed 200mph, plus a 7.6-metre-wide castle chicane through UNESCO-protected medieval streets
- Sessions run three hours ahead of the UK, with Qualifying at 1pm UK and the Grand Prix at midday UK, with warm dry weather forecast in the mid-20s Celsius all week
- The race opens a flyaway triple header before trips to Malaysia and Singapore
- Oscar Piastri, then the championship leader, was knocked out at last year's Baku race, underlining the wall-lined circuit's reputation for punishing mistakes
- Sky Sports F1 broadcasts every session from Wednesday's drivers' press conference through Saturday's race, with NOW streaming available for non-Sky subscribers
Why it matters: UK fans get a rare Saturday midday Grand Prix that compresses the live broadcast schedule into three days instead of four, while Antonelli's 81-point cushion means his title rivals have only eight rounds remaining to mount a challenge.
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