Charles Leclerc will start from pole position at this year’s Azerbaijan Grand Prix with a lap time of 1:41.365. Oscar Piastri took second place, and Carlos Sainz finished third in Baku.
Leclerc led after the first Q3 runs and improved his time to secure pole. Piastri finished ahead of Sainz, while Lando Norris was eliminated in Q1. Sergio Perez outqualified Max Verstappen, finishing fourth, with Verstappen starting from sixth.
George Russell outperformed his teammate and will start fifth, while Hamilton will be in seventh. Fernando Alonso secured eighth place on the grid.
A strange incident occurred when Williams forgot to remove a cooling fan from Alex Albon’s car before his second run. Despite this, he finished ninth ahead of his teammate Franco Colapinto, who made it to Q3 for the first time.
Q2 Highlights:
Verstappen was fastest in Q2, just ahead of Leclerc. The top four teams’ drivers, two Williams cars, and Fernando Alonso advanced to Q3. Colapinto qualified for his first-ever Q3. Oliver Bearman missed out on Q3 but outqualified Nico Hulkenberg. Yuki Tsunoda, Pierre Gasly, and Lance Stroll were also eliminated.
OUT – P15 Stroll, P14 Hulkenberg, P13 Gasly, P12 Tsunoda, P11 Bearman
Q1 Surprises:
The two Mercedes started on medium tires but needed softs to advance to Q2. Verstappen and Piastri were close to elimination but survived. Norris made a mistake on his final lap and was knocked out early. Daniel Ricciardo, both Stake F1 cars, and Esteban Ocon also didn’t make it past Q1.
OUT – P20 Ocon, P19 Zhou, P18 Bottas, P17 Norris, P16 Ricciardo
Fans might think it’s surprising that Norris got eliminated so early.
What do you think about these results?
