Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc achieves his fourth successive pole position at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix while an error in Q1 left Lando Norris just P17 on the grid.
A dominant Leclerc held off McLaren’s Oscar Piastri by three tenths, with both his Q3 laps good enough for pole as the Scuderia driver extended his Baku qualifying form. Piastri managed to hold off Carlos Sainz to be on the front row.
Sergio Perez confirmed his strong Baku weekend form by outqualifying teammate Max Verstappen for the first time this season. Perez took fourth, with George Russell splitting the Red Bulls in fifth ahead of the current championship leader.
Lewis Hamilton was seventh ahead of Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso, while rookie Franco Colapinto starred on his second outing with Williams, heading into Q3 in sixth and then outqualifying teammate Albon for ninth position.
Albon was bizarrely sent out for his final run with the airbox fan still attached to the car, but after unsuccessfully urging the marshals to help at pit exit, Albon managed to remove the device himself.
Albon still managed to set a lap, although he may well have compromised his tyre warm-up to find himself behind Colapinto.
McLaren’s title contender Norris, who is looking to further reduce his 62-point gap to championship leader Max Verstappen, hit a setback as he got eliminated in Q1.
Due to dramatic track evolution on the low-grip Baku street circuit, most frontrunners needed a third, error-free soft tyre run to safeguard a spot in Q2.
But Norris, who had been shuffled into the drop zone, made a mistake on the final run by sliding over the high Turn 16 kerbs, before seeing his lap definitively ruined by what the team thought was a yellow flag for Esteban Ocon coasting home in his punctured Alpine.
Norris backed off and was forced to pit instead, with his previous best only good enough for P17 on the grid.
Norris will line up behind RB’s Daniel Ricciardo, with Sauber pair Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu in P18 and P19, and Ocon last after touching the wall. Ocon had already lost valuable track time after losing FP1 due to a hybrid engine problem and being stranded in FP2 with a fuel system issue.
In Q2 Haas rookie Oliver Bearman missed the cut to Q3 by one tenth after ruing a slight error, but Ollie still impressively fought back from an FP3 crash to outqualify his experienced teammate Nico Hulkenberg.
Bearman will start P11 ahead of RB’s Yuki Tsunoda and Gasly, followed by Hulkenberg and Aston Martin driver Lance Stroll.
So a very close qualifying session at Baku with Monza winner Charles Leclerc taking pole position. It will be fascinating to see if Lando Norris can recover from his shocking Q1 exit in the race.
Azerbaijan Grand Prix, qualifying positions:
1 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:41.365
2 Oscar Piastri McLaren 1:41.686
3 Carlos Sainz Ferrari 1:41.805
4 Sergio Perez Red Bull 1:41.813
5 George Russell Mercedes 1:41.874
6 Max Verstappen Red Bull 1:42.023
7 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:42.289
8 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin 1:42.369
9 Franco Colapinto Williams 1:42.530
10 Alexander Albon Williams 1:42.859
11 Oliver Bearman Haas 1:42.968
12 Yuki Tsunoda RB 1:43.035
13 Pierre Gasly Alpine 1:43.179
14 Nico Hulkenberg Haas 1:43.191
15 Lance Stroll Aston Martin 1:43.404
16 Daniel Ricciardo RB 1:43.547
17 Lando Norris McLaren 1:43.609
18 Valtteri Bottas Sauber 1:43.618
19 Zhou Guanyu Sauber 1:44.246
20 Esteban Ocon Alpine 1:44.504
Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc made it four successive pole positions at the Baku City Circuit by beating Oscar Piastri to the top spot during Saturday’s qualifying session for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, while there was drama for the other McLaren of Lando Norris in the form of a Q1 elimination.
Leclerc produced a blistering lap of 1m 41.365s to finish some three-tenths clear of Piastri in the final Q3 phase, adding to his 2021, 2022 and 2023 poles at the venue, with team mate Carlos Sainz rounding out the top three positions.
Red Bull showed flashes of pace throughout qualifying but ultimately had to settle for fourth and sixth, with two-time Azerbaijan winner Sergio Perez getting the better of Max Verstappen, while George Russell put his Mercedes in fifth.
Lewis Hamilton seemingly faced a battle to get his tyres up to temperature en route to seventh place, as Fernando Alonso took eighth for Aston Martin and Williams drivers Franco Colapinto and Alex Albon completed the Q3 order.
In what was an otherwise excellent day for Williams, and especially rookie Colapinto, Albon’s efforts were hindered when the Thai-British driver was sent out for his final lap with an airbox fan still attached.
https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/article/leclerc-beats-piastri-to-pole-in-azerbaijan-as-norris-suffers-shock-q1-exit.62ohN93LSZDFfUV1wbPt5H
Confusion over a yellow flag led to Lando Norris’s elimination in the first qualifying session for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.
Norris backed off during his last run after yellow flags were displayed in the final sector due to an incident involving Alpine’s Esteban Ocon.
However, it appeared that the flags had been removed by the time the McLaren driver arrived on the scene at Turn 16, with only a white flag waving on the entry of the following corner, indicating a slow-moving car on the track.
It means Norris is due to start down in 17th for Sunday’s race in Baku as he claimed he “had to lift” because of the flags, but it appears the issue had been cleared just as the McLaren man arrived into turn 16.
Norris’ race engineer Will Joseph apologised over the team radio as confusion reigned over whether he had to drop off the pace at such a crucial time.
“I’m going to have to hope so, aren’t I,” he replied when it was put to him that the Azerbaijan Grand Prix can often throw up a surprise or two.
“The car was good, everyone just did their second laps and I didn’t so it was just unlucky.
“It is what it is but there is a long race ahead, we have got some good tyres in the bank, so yeah, try and be hopeful and see what we can do tomorrow.
“I haven’t been thinking about [the race], to be honest, that is what tonight is for but I am still hopeful we can get a good result.
“The car is quick, I think the lap I was on I could have easily gone second, a bit frustrating but nothing I can do.”
https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/confusion-over-yellow-flags-led-to-norris-q1-exit-in-azerbaijan/10654161/
World champion Max Verstappen says a set-up change that made his Red Bull car bounce was behind his muted qualifying session for Formula 1’s Azerbaijan Grand Prix.
Verstappen looked to be in the hunt with the Ferraris and McLarens all weekend but struggled to wring a great lap out of his Red Bull RB20 when it mattered in qualifying.
The Dutchman only managed sixth, 0.658s behind polesitter Charles Leclerc, while being outqualified by team-mate Sergio Perez for the first time since last year’s Miami Grand Prix, 33 races ago.
According to Verstappen, Red Bull overdid a set-up change ahead of qualifying, which impacted his car balance and introduced rear-end bouncing.
“As soon as I went out in Q1, I just felt the car took a step back,” Verstappen explained. “We made some changes and the car just became incredibly unpredictable and difficult.
“That caused a lot of bouncing in the back of the car when turning in and out of a corner. In Q2 it still went relatively well, but the car did not feel good and I couldn’t get the maximum out of it. I had too much oversteer, and you don’t want that on a street circuit.”
“Of course, I’m a bit disappointed with that, because you always try to make things better. And unfortunately, we just tipped it over the edge.
“In my first run in Q3, I lost it in the last corner. Then you still have a run to improve your lap time, but I just didn’t have the feeling in the car. We changed some things and know what the problem is. This is a bummer.”
https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/verstappen-rues-red-bull-bouncing-that-derailed-baku-qualifying/10654262/
Charles Leclerc expressed his satisfaction after charging to a fourth consecutive pole position for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, having fended off McLaren driver Oscar Piastri and Ferrari team mate Carlos Sainz in Saturday’s qualifying session.
Leclerc, who also nailed his one-lap performances around the Baku City Circuit in 2021, 2022 and 2023, delivered a masterclass in the decisive Q3 phase to finish three-tenths clear of Piastri and another tenth up on Sainz.
Now Leclerc’s challenge is to turn his latest pole into his first victory at the track, with Red Bull winning in the Land of Fire for the last three campaigns and the Monegasque recording a best finish of third in 2023.
“It’s one of my favourite tracks; I really like it,” he said after qualifying. “It hasn’t been an easy weekend, because obviously the crash in FP1, which didn’t make me lose confidence. I knew that the pace was there, but obviously you’ve got to build back up to speed.
“Then in FP2 we had a problem on a new part we brought on the car and there was something wrong there, so we lost another half an hour, and it’s laps that you don’t really recover, so I was a bit… not worried, but I knew that we had to make up some time.
“The pace was always there and then in qualifying and Q3 it was all about trying to stay as far as possible off the walls. In that last lap I went for it a bit more and the lap time came very nicely. The car felt really good and everything felt great, so it’s amazing to be on pole.”
https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/article/leclerc-hails-amazing-baku-pole-run-as-he-hopes-ferrari-can-play-a-team-game.7fXrvJmVof44xJq2gmpfz4
Franco Colapinto dedicated his “dream” Azerbaijan Grand Prix ninth-place qualifying result to the Williams engineers who rebuilt his car following a shunt in free practice on Friday.
Colapinto was promoted into a race seat after team boss James Vowles made the call to drop Logan Sargeant ahead of the Monza weekend, who himself had suffered a number of crashes throughout the season.
“It was difficult, but you know, more difficult than it was going to be if I couldn’t do FP2, and luckily, the boys in the garage did an amazing job too,” he said.
“They didn’t even have lunch but they were working flat out to put my car out in FP2. And after they did that they gave me a big confidence boost and a lot of energy to try and achieve a good result for them, for the effort that they have been doing this year.
“It was nice today to give them back a little bit of what they gave me. So I’m very happy about it. Of course, it’s still a long way to go but it’s always an important moment for you to be in Q3. I even did very good laps. Every lap was on it and I just can’t wait for tomorrow.
“I’m looking forward to tomorrow…it’s a short straight until T1, but I am very excited. It’s an amazing moment, my first Q3, and I am very happy about it, to be honest. It’s the moment every driver dreams of.”
https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/colapinto-azerbaijan-q3-result-a-dream-come-true/10654258/