George Russell took an all-conquering pole for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, with Charles Leclerc joining him on the front row.
The Azerbaijan Grand Prix qualifying took place a day early as the country commemorates its national day of Mourning on Sunday, shuffling all F1 action forward.
Qualifying 1
After the chaos of the F2 sprint race, the F1 drivers were all keen to get on with in Q1. They poured out of the pits to get a banker in, in case of any disruptions. Lance Stroll nearly caused that within 3 minutes, running wide at Turn 7. He was able to continue with a three-point turn and got on with it.
It was clear early on a slipstream down the main straight was crucial to gain time with these power-deprived cars in the final section. On his first run, Hamilton got exactly that, gaining 4 tenths in the final sector alone to put himself 2nd at the time. His teammate without it was 6 tenths back.
With 7 minutes to go – huge drama for the championship leader. On his 2nd run, Kimi Antonelli smacks the Turn 1 barrier in the first sector, breaks his front suspension and is out! His time was enough to get him through to Q2 but he will only start 16th! Is still George’s chance to start reeling him in?
As the final runs started the bottom 6 were: Bearman, Hulkenberg, Alonso, Perez, Bottas and Stroll. Would there be any movement?
There was movement! Bearman gets out of the danger zone to demote Bortoletto, knocking out both Audis, both Cadillacs and both Aston Martins.
Final order: Bortoletto, Hulkenberg, Alonso, Perez, Bottas and Stroll.
Qualifying 2
15 drivers started Q2 with Antonelli out. The low-grip conditions around the Baku circuit meant lots of warm up laps and multiple runs on the same tyres as the drivers built up that temperature. It also helped the drivers position themselves for that crucial slipstream.
The track was ramping up as the times dropped and dropped. The Mclarens hit the front after the first runs, to be pipped by the Ferraris. Who were then pipped by George Russell.
With Kimi vacating a top 10 position, this opened an opportunity for Williams, Alpine, Racing Bulls and Haas to get both drivers into the shootout. Would anyone take advantage? Early doors, both Williams occupied those places!
With 3 minutes to go, the drop zone was: Colapinto, Ocon, Albon, Lawson, Lindblad and Antonelli!
Alpine would take advantage of the extra slot and got both drivers in the Top 10 shootout. Carlos Sainz pulled out a great lap to join them, using their upgrade to great effect.
The Q2 drop zone was: Bearman, Lawson, Albon, Ocon, Lindblad and Antonelli.
At the front Russell continued to be the favourite for pole. Behind him McLaren, Red Bull and Ferrari were separated by 3 tenths of a second. All to play for!
Qualifying 3
There were split run strategies from the teams in Q3. Russell, Sainz, McLaren and Verstappen came out straight away. While Ferrari, Alpine and Hadjar stayed in the pits. Some teams were doing multiple warm up laps while McLaren went for it straight away. This was all going to come together in the final minutes.
The McLarens took a provisional 1-2 from Russell, Verstappen and Sainz in the first minutes.
In the second runs, Russell laid down a big marker! He took pole by half a second and Hadjar slotted into 4th. Colapinto went straight on at Turn 15 but continued. It was all going on! Leclerc put his Ferrari 2nd, Gasly went 6th, Hamilton 7th, Verstappen 8th, Sainz 9th and Colapinto 10th.
Ok, here came the final laps!
The excitement continued! George Russell went even faster, finding half a second more to take pole by a gigantic 0.837 seconds.
Charles Leclerc finished 2nd, Piastri 3rd, Hadjar 4th, Norris 5th after going straight on at Turn 3 and not improving. Hamilton found time but not enough to qualify 6th, Gasly in 7th, Verstappen in 8th after being effected by Norris’ yellow flag. Sainz and Colapinto rounded off the top 10.
Image and Video credit: Formula 1 – X