The Azerbaijan Grand Prix runs on a Saturday this year. Track action starts on Thursday 24 September, qualifying is on Friday afternoon, and the race goes off at 15:00 local time on Saturday 26 September. That is 13:00 in the Netherlands and Belgium and 12:00 in the United Kingdom.
The full Azerbaijan Grand Prix timetable
| Session | Day | Baku | NL and BE | UK |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Free Practice 1 | Thursday 24 Sept | 12:30 | 10:30 | 09:30 |
| Free Practice 2 | Thursday 24 Sept | 16:00 | 14:00 | 13:00 |
| Free Practice 3 | Friday 25 Sept | 12:30 | 10:30 | 09:30 |
| Qualifying | Friday 25 Sept | 16:00 | 14:00 | 13:00 |
| Grand Prix | Saturday 26 Sept | 15:00 | 13:00 | 12:00 |
Baku is on UTC+4, four hours ahead of the Netherlands while central Europe is still on summer time.
The weekend moved forward a day for a national day of remembrance
Azerbaijan marks its Day of Remembrance on 27 September, for the roughly 2,900 soldiers killed in the Second Nagorno-Karabakh War that began on that date in 2020. The promoter and the government asked for the weekend to be pulled forward so the Grand Prix would not fall on it, and Formula 1 agreed. Sunday in Baku is empty this year.
The knock-on effect is a weekend with no rest day in it. Two practice sessions on Thursday, third practice and qualifying on Friday, race on Saturday.
Fifty-one laps, with a two-hour limit
The Grand Prix is scheduled for 51 laps of the Baku City Circuit, and the official timetable puts a 120-minute cap on it. The drivers’ presentation is at 13:00 and the national anthem at 14:44, so the broadcast build-up starts well before the lights.
Formula 2 fills the rest of the weekend
| Formula 2 session | Day | Baku | NL and BE |
|---|---|---|---|
| Practice | Thursday 24 Sept | 10:00 | 08:00 |
| Qualifying 1 | Thursday 24 Sept | 14:00 | 12:00 |
| Qualifying 2 | Thursday 24 Sept | 14:30 | 12:30 |
| Sprint Race | Friday 25 Sept | 08:15 | 06:15 |
| Feature Race 1 | Friday 25 Sept | 14:15 | 12:15 |
| Feature Race 2 | Saturday 26 Sept | 11:00 | 09:00 |
Two things worth watching
Isack Hadjar is back in the Red Bull for the first time since the summer break, having been declared fit after a wrist injury that cost him Zandvoort, Monza and the Madring. Liam Lawson goes back to Racing Bulls.
Mercedes arrives without the upgrade a lot of people expected here, and the reason has been sitting in a drawer since June.
Pirelli has chosen the C3 as Hard, the C4 as Medium and the C5 as Soft for this race, a step harder than the 2025 selection. We have the full tyre picture for the weekend, including the resurfaced corners.
Times are taken from the official Formula 1 timetable and can still move. We will update this page if the schedule changes.
