F1 qualifying: Baku GP – Max Verstappen narrowly misses out on P1 as Charles Leclerc grabs pole in Azerbaijan.
[adrotate banner=”3″]
Get 10% off all official F1 Merch at TheRaceWorks.com using code ‘EF1‘ at checkout.
Quali 1
This qualifying session had lots of red flags, and Charles Leclerc ended up being the fastest when time ran out.
Man, those red flags are getting a real workout this season, and this session was no different. First, after just 4 minutes, De Vries crashed at turn 3 and brought out the red flag. Once the race started again, Pierre Gasly went and did the same thing, hitting the barrier and causing more delays. They had to fix the barrier before they could finish the session.
After all that, the five drivers who got eliminated from qualifying were (no surprise here) DeVries and Gasly. Magnussen also had to retire back to the pitlane, which left two spots for knockout. Nico Hulkenberg and Zhou Guanyu joined them in the bottom five. Esteban Ocon managed to avoid getting knocked out by just two hundredths of a second. Talk about a close call!
Oh, and tyres were a big deal in this session. Carlos Sainz was really pushing them to the limit. He spun out and damaged a set that were only three laps old. That might come back to haunt him later in qualifying.
McLaren did better this time around. Norris finished in 7th place, and Piastri came in 12th. They must be pretty happy with that, but they’ll be hoping for an even better performance in the next session. Lewis Hamilton and George Russell also made it through with respectable 4th and 5th fastest times.
Quali 2
Surprisingly, Q2 went ahead without any red flags. That’s a rarity!
It was business as usual in this session, with Max Verstappen dominating and leaving his Ferrari rival Charles Leclerc in second place. Sergio Perez, the so called street circuit master couldnt live up to his title. He came in third with Carlos Sainz of Ferrari taking fourth.
But the big shocker in Q2 was the elimination of George Russell. That’s gonna make Mercedes think hard, especially since both of the teams they supply engines to, McLaren and Aston Martin, got both their drivers through to the final qualifying session. Lewis Hamilton just barely made it, landing the tenth fastest time.
Others who got knocked out in Q2 were Ocon, Albon, Bottas, and Sargeant. Albon was complaining that Carlos Sainz held him back and prevented him from going faster. He was pretty confident about it too!
Quali 3
Now let’s talk about Q3. Charles Leclerc secured pole position after a back-and-forth battle with his main rival Max Verstappen. They were matching each other’s times early on, but since Max did it first, he ended up on pole after their first attempt around the streets of Baku. The Ferrari team will be happy that they topped the time sheets after such a lackluster start to the season. Is Ferrari finally getting back on track?
Right behind Leclerc were the main title contenders, Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez. Carlos Sainz completed the front two rows of the grid, but he struggled with tyre degradation due to his earlier spin in Q1.
Lewis Hamilton qualified in 5th place, followed by Alonso, Norris, Tsunoda, Stroll, and Piastri. Piastri tied with Stroll’s time down to the nearest 1 thousandth of a second, but since Stroll set his time first, Sergeant gets the 10th spot on the grid.
Let’s not forget that this session determines the starting grid for the race on Sunday. But you know what? A lot can happen between now and then because we’re having our very first Saturday Sprint event.
In the morning, we’ll have a shortened qualifying session with mandated tyres, setting the grid for the Sprint later that day.
The sprint race itself is in the afternoon. It’s gonna be a 100-kilometer race with no pit stops, and only the top 8 finishers will score points. Exciting stuff!
Charles Leclerc will definitely be aiming to stay out of trouble during the sprint race. He knows that staying out of any incidents will give him the best possible chance for success on Sunday.
But you know what? The sprint race might just shake things up even more. Anything can happen on the track, and with a shorter distance and no pit stops, drivers will be pushing their limits from start to finish. It’s going to be a thrilling battle for those valuable points.
[adrotate banner=”10″]
Get 10% off all official F1 Merch at TheRaceWorks.com using code ‘EF1‘ at checkout.
F1 Qualifying: Baku GP