After a plethora of red flags in previous practice sessions, qualifying gets underway for the 2024 Azerbaijan GP, but can Red Bull go back to their winning ways?
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Red Bull have shown some great pace this weekend with their new floor upgrade topping the times for FP1 in the last minute of the session. Before Quali was go, Max Verstappen’s car was undergoing some heavy mechanical work with a floor and engine cover change just ten minutes before the session began. Upgrades and all, what did we learn from the 2024 Azerbaijan GP Qualifying session?
Green Flag Is Out:
Visors were down after some heavily disruptive practice sessions and drivers were ready to use up that precious track time that was previously in limited supply. The pit lane was jammed with cars ready to get down some crucial lap times on this challenging circuit. The first to touch the track was both Sauber’s of Zhou Guanyu, who has unfortunately received a grid penalty for tomorrow, and Valtteri Bottas. Verstappen took to the track on a fresh set of soft tyres getting started on his set of flying laps setting a 1:43.644, aided by a tow from Lewis Hamilton ahead. Max was quickly out driven by his teammate Sergio Perez going quicker by 0.2s. Verstappen put this lack of speed down to his rear axle, complaining about his car over the team radio. Another driver who has flying in Q1 was Williams’ new recruit Franco Colapinto, putting his car at P3, just 0.109s behind provisional pole. However, it wouldn’t be a race weekend in Baku without disruption as Carlos Sainz ran wide and came off the track, temporarily triggering a double yellow flag. Meanwhile, Charles Leclerc set a blistering provisional pole lap with a 1:42.775, half a second above the previous benchmark time by Sergio Perez. Leclerc has a successful history of pole positions in Azerbaijan and was definitely hoping to take his fourth pole in a row here in Baku. As Q1 came to a close, Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc came out on top; Verstappen with his best efforts tried to overtake his time but was unsuccessful due to a yellow flag and some slow traffic. Unexpectedly, Lando Norris came into the pits at the chequered flag and was unable to make it out of the elimination zone. This will raise a lot of questions surrounding the previously dominant team. This elimination will also shake up the conversation regarding Norris’ priority within the team and ‘Papaya rules’. The McLaren driver scarped a little too much curb which ended his chances of improving his time combined with some slow moving cars.
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Q2 Begins:
Q2 went off with a bang with a close call in the pit lane between Franco Colapinto, Oscar Piastri and George Russell, a tight squeeze to get out onto the track. Luckily for McLaren, second driver Piastri made it through and had to give it his everything to bring the team back up to where they expected to be this weekend. He set the first recorded lap time of the session producing a 1:42.598. This was quickly overshadowed by Max Verstappen who made up nearly half a second against his time. McLaren will surely be concerned seeing Red Bull picking up their pace for the 2024 Azerbaijan GP. Another driver to pay attention to performance wise this weekend is Ferrari’s arlos Sainz who has appeared to be struggling on this track this weekend, the Spanish driver just could not keep up with his teammate. Leclerc continued his reputation of impressive pace around Baku by splitting the Red Bulls between P1 and P3 with a blistering middle sector. However, he did complain over the team radio about the lack of tow he has received all weekend, which most other drivers have benefited from. Rookie replacement for Kevin Magnussen’s temporary race ban Oliver Bearman just squeezed his way out of the elimination zone but was sadly knocked back down by Alex Albon only just missing out on Q3.
Who Took Pole In Baku?:
Franco Colapinto successfully made it through to Q3 which will be a huge success story among the team for the rookie. The Argentinian driver showed an impressive level of pace through all Qualifying sessions. The battle for pole position was on for both Red Bulls and Charles Leclerc. The paddock also kept a close eye on Oscar Piastri and George Russell to contend for the top spot. Russell had clear air in front of him for his first flying lap without any tow which most drivers avoided throughout all three qualifying sessions. With six minutes remaining in the session, Ferrari set a 1-2 on the time sheets; while Red Bull seem to have their mojo back, both drivers did struggle on their fresh set of tyres to match the top pace. During Q3 the track temperature dropped drastically by around 5 degrees which was detrimental to tyre performance. Lewis Hamilton reported this temperature drop with urgency over the team radio. Disastrously for Williams, the team sent Albon’s car out with the fan still attached; the driver had to take matters into his own hands and removed the hardware himself at the end of the pit exit and continued with his lap. The stewards noted this mishap as an unsafe release. As the chequered flag came down, Charles Leclerc retained his qualifying dominance in Baku by taking pole with a 1:41.365. Oscar Piastri split the Ferrari drivers down the middle by qualifying P2. Unfortunately for Red Bull they couldn’t quite reach the pace at the top with Perez in P4 and Verstappen in P6. Leclerc continues his consecutive dominance for the 2024 Azerbaijan GP Qualifying session.
Feature Image Photo Credit: McLaren Racing Media Centre