Max Verstappen has beaten Carlos Sainz by just under half a second to take pole for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. The Dutchman went fastest right at the end of an action-packed qualifying session, which saw six red flags and the session lasting for nearly two hours.
Many expected McLaren to come back at Red Bull in Q3, but the question will be whether they lost momentum through the stop-start nature of qualifying. But Verstappen reminded us that he can never be counted out, and the team were more confident given the win in Monza two weeks ago.
The battle for pole effectively became a one-lap shoot-out, after Oscar Piastri made a rare mistake when he carried too much speed and went straight on at Turn Three into the wall. He was just one of six drivers to be caught out by the gusty and cloudy conditions, and then Norris failed to capitalise on his final attempt going only seventh.
The Bristolian had a very scrappy final lap in the effectively one-lap shootout for pole; Norris missed out at several key exits and that left him a second off the pace. Meanwhile, Verstappen delivered a stunning lap and showed why he’s a four-time world champion with a brilliant lap to take pole from Sainz by nearly half a second.
Verstappen said, “Long qualifying with so many red flags, so it was very difficult to get your lap together because most of the time your tyres were not really ready, or a red flag happened. Especially Q3, with also a bit of rain around, it was a very difficult session. In the final lap, you just have to send it. I wasn’t even on the best tyres that I wanted, because of all the red flags you basically run out of tyres.”
Sainz added, “Honestly, we have nailed the qualifying today. Every time being on the right tyre on the right time and putting together some very strong laps.” It will be Williams’ first race start from the front row since the hugely controversial 2021 Belgian Grand Prix; before that you need to go back to Austria in 2014.
Qualifying was a battle; rain overnight washed away all the rubber, drivers also had to contend with high winds and that all on a high-speed street circuit where barriers are easy to find. The six red flags broke the record shared between Imola in 2022 and Sao Paulo last year.
Sainz was over a tenth faster than Liam Lawson, it was a brilliant session for the New Zealander who kept his cool amid the chaos of the session. The Williams driver looked very much in the hunt and held provisional pole when Charles Leclerc crashed halfway through Q3, bringing out the fifth red flag. When the session restarted, Piastri was the next driver in the wall.
Verstappen was the only driver able to improve on Sainz’s time when the session restarted for the final time with just over three minutes remaining. Williams certainly had the pace to be in Q3 with both Sainz and Alex Albon, who was the first driver into the wall in Q1 at Lewis Corner (Turn One)
Racing Bulls’ Lawson will start third, with the lap time he set behind Sainz in the first part of Q3. The Kiwi was a hundredth faster than the Mercedes duo of Kimi Antonelli who was over three and a half tenths ahead of teammate George Russell. Lawson’s third is his best result in qualifying, as it was for Yuki Tsunoda as a Red Bull driver, as he went seven hundredths behind Russell.
With Hadjar expected to become Verstappen’s new Red Bull teammate in 2026 and F2 driver Arvid Lindblad in line to join Racing Bulls, Tsunoda and Lawson are fighting for potentially the last seat in the Red Bull stable.
McLaren’s hopes of sealing the constructors on Sunday have taken a big blow, Norris only managed seventh, seven hundredths behind Tsunoda while his teammate Piastri can start no higher than tenth, depending on how much damage he did on his first go in Q3.
Leclerc was another failing to set at time in the final part of qualifying, many had brushed the barrier at Azneft Square (Sixteen), but the Ferrari thumped it, breaking his front wing and suspension, bringing out the fifth red flag of the session.
Ferrari’s Saturday once again spectacularly unravelling, Leclerc crashing out in Q3, and Lewis Hamilton after being fastest in Q1, being knocked out in Q2. Fernando Alonso was fastest of those knocked out in Q2 as he missed out by eleven thousandths, which means the Aston Martin driver splits the Ferrari’s after going over two tenths faster than former teammate Hamilton. The Englishman outqualified Gabriel Bortoleto and Lance Stroll.
Hamilton told Sky Sports, “I’m obviously so disappointed. Yesterday the car was feeling good; today there was a direction that we ended up going, which on paper looked like it was the best place for us to be. Our pace had been good. We’d been progressing, I was feeling really on it, didn’t make any mistakes, didn’t see me down any exit roads. It was just that we didn’t have the right tyre on at the end.:’
Ollie Bearman was another victim of Baku’s walls, on his first attempt in Q2 he hit the wall at Turn Two, just as Leclerc bailed at Lewis Corner but at that point, he avoided the wall.
Albon wasn’t the only driver to bring out the red flag in Q1 or find the barrier at Lewis Corner, he was joined by Nico Hulkenberg and Franco Colapinto. Hulkenberg and Colapinto making the same mistakes moments apart at Four, the Sauber crashed, the Argentine on exit clouted the wall while Pierre Gasly bailed out going up the escape road.
That left Gasly nineteenth over a tenth behind Esteban Ocon, after the session the Haas driver was disqualified from qualifying. It was deemed that his car had breached technical regulations relating to the rear wing deflexion test, after exceeding the maximum deflection test by 0.5mm.
As is the usual outcome with such a technical violation, a follow up from the stewards later confirmed that Ocon had been disqualified from the session.
Related
- · AZERBAIJAN GP – Lando Norris fastest by nearly a quarter of a second from Max Verstappen in third practice
- AZERBAIJAN GP – Lewis Hamilton leads Ferrari one-two nearly a tenth faster than Charles Leclerc, as McLaren’s crash in second practice
- AZERBAIJAN GP – Lando Norris leads McLaren one-two three tenths faster than Oscar Piastri in first practice
- PRIXVIEW – Azerbaijan Grand Prix
