Charles Leclerc becomes the first non-Red Bull driver to take pole position this season.
Q1
The walls are never too far away on the Baku street circuit, and Nyck de Vries was the first driver to find this out. He crashed at turn 3 after carrying too much speed into the corner after braking too late. As a result the red flag was waved.
It wasn’t long after things got away again that they were halted once more. This was because Pierre Gasly had crashed at the same part of the track de Vries had just moments earlier. He too had just carried too much speed into the corner, hitting into the wall with the rear of his car.
Early in the session Magnussen had complained of an engine issue, which had been described as an electrical connector issue by his engineer. They tried going again following the second red flag, but the Haas driver was told to pit as they couldn’t risk the car.
With all that only two cars were eliminated solely on pace in this session, with Zhou and Hulkenberg failing to find enough time to make it into Q2.
Eliminated
16. Zhou Guanyu – Alfa Romeo +0.020
17. Nico Hulkenberg – Haas +0.133
18. Kevin Magnussen – Haas +0.795
19. Pierre Gasly – Alpine +2.231
20. Nyck de Vries – Alpha Tauri +12.660
Q2
Logan Sargeant was able to make his first Q2 appearance in F1, however he wasn’t able to build on this and was slowest within the session.
Mercedes struggled for pace throughout the session, with George Russell being knocked out by his teammate Lewis Hamilton, with the margin between them only being 4 thousandths of a second.
Eliminated
11. George Russell – Mercedes +0.004
12. Esteban Ocon – Alpine +0.148
13. Alex Albon – Williams +0.168
14. Valtteri Bottas – Alfa Romeo +0.609
15. Logan Sargeant – Williams +0.745
Q3
The fight for pole was tight throughout the session. During their first runs both Charles Leclerc and Max Verstappen set the exact same time. Verstappen was only ahead because he set his lap first. Sergio Perez was keeping them both honest as well, being just over a tenth behind.
It was Leclerc however that won out on their final runs. Whilst Verstappen and Perez struggled to find any more time, Leclerc managed to extract a little more time in order to get his first pole of the season.
Further back both Aston Martin cars struggled with DRS issues, which limited their capabilities in this session. Furthermore, despite Mercedes’ struggles for pace, Hamilton was able to qualify in 5th place.
Qualifying Results
1 Charles Leclerc – Ferrari 1:40.203
2. Max Verstappen – Red Bull +0.188
3. Sergio Perez – Red Bull +0.292
4. Carlos Sainz – Ferrari +0.813
5. Lewis Hamilton – Mercedes +0.974
6. Fernando Alonso – Aston Martin +1.050
7. Lando Norris – McLaren +1.078
8. Yuki Tsunoda – Alpha Tauri +1.378
9. Lance Stroll – Aston Martin +1.408
10. Oscar Piastri – McLaren +1.408
