The Qatar Airways Azerbaijan Grand Prix was won by George Russell as the Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team driver kept Max Verstappen at bay for a lights-to-flag victory.
The race around the historical streets of Baku also marked the end of the European section of the Formula 1 season and presented teams, partners and sponsors a chance to activate in a different market to recent months.
Here, Sector picks the three standout activations from across the weekend that demonstrated how those brands are using F1 races to engage fans and tell new stories.
Aleph x Audi Revolut F1 Team
Aleph became Audi Revolut F1 Team’s official digital activation partner in January 2026, built around what the team calls a “glo-cal” approach: rather than running one global campaign, Aleph’s local offices are meant to make the team’s presence feel authentic in each of F1’s 24 markets.
Azerbaijan is one of those markets in a more literal sense than most. Aleph expanded into the country several years ago and operates there as a genuine local business, including as a reseller for platforms such as TikTok, not simply as a partner riding along for one race weekend.
That gave the Baku race a different character to a standard hospitality booking. Aleph’s Azerbaijan team used the home Grand Prix to bring its own local clients and partners into the F1 world, treating the race as a platform to deepen relationships it already has in the market, rather than a one-off logo placement.
The team behind that execution was explicitly credited for the on-the-ground work, from pre-event preparation and coordination through to hosting guests across the weekend, framing it as a genuinely local effort rather than something run centrally out of Aleph’s global operation and simply staged in Baku.
The wider commercial logic lines up with how Audi has talked about the Aleph partnership more broadly: a platform built to race in different cities and cultures, but one where the team wants each market to feel like more than a passenger on a global tour. Baku, as one of Aleph’s genuine home markets, gave that idea its most literal test yet.
LEGO x Mercedes-AMG F1 Team
LEGO took its F1 partnership into the centre of Baku for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, bringing its near life-size Mercedes-AMG F1 car to Ganjlik Mall.
The model, based on the Mercedes-AMG W15, was built from almost 400,000 LEGO bricks and took more than 22,000 hours to complete.
For the Baku activation, the car made what LEGO described as a “pit stop” in Azerbaijan, arriving at Ganjlik Mall ahead of the Grand Prix and remaining on display until September 29.
The execution also allowed visitors to see the installation process, turning the build itself into part of the experience rather than simply displaying the completed car.
The Baku appearance followed the model’s original unveiling at the Miami Grand Prix in 2025, giving LEGO another opportunity to take its F1 product proposition outside the circuit and into a major public retail environment.
The activation also came as LEGO expands its presence in Azerbaijan, with the country’s first LEGO Certified Store set to open at Ganjlik Mall in October.
For Mercedes, the execution put its F1 identity at the centre of a large-scale consumer activation, while LEGO used the race weekend in Baku to connect its physical product, its Mercedes partnership and its growing retail presence in the market.
PASHA Real Estate x Azerbaijan GP
PASHA Real Estate used the race to put its property portfolio directly in front of an international audience, turning one of Baku’s most prominent grandstands into a race-specific lead-generation channel.
The company became an Event Supporter of the 2026 Azerbaijan Grand Prix, with the grandstand at Azneft Square renamed the PASHA Real Estate Grandstand.
But the activation went beyond naming rights as sectators inside the grandstand were given access to dedicated QR codes, allowing them to explore PASHA Real Estate’s portfolio of developments and access exclusive offers created specifically for F1 guests.
That gave PASHA a direct route from race attendance to its core commercial proposition, using the Grand Prix audience to showcase residential and landmark developments in Baku.
The location was also significant. The Azneft Square grandstand sits in the centre of Baku, where the street circuit runs through the city’s historic and modern landmarks, several of which form part of PASHA Real Estate’s wider portfolio.
The company positioned the partnership as a way of introducing international visitors to its projects and to Baku itself, using F1 as a platform to connect the city’s global sporting audience with its property business.
Rather than simply putting a brand in front of spectators, PASHA built a specific journey from the grandstand into its development portfolio, with an offer attached to the audience.
Seen a specific activation you think we should cover? Let us know which one.
