George Russell took pole position for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix in dominant fashion.
His best lap of 1’42.526 was over eight tenths of a second quicker than anyone else could manage. He claimed pole position by the biggest margin for over three years.However his team mate Andrea Kimi Antonelli will start only 16th after he crashed out in the first round of qualifying.
The championship leader already had a time on the board when he clipped the barrier on the inside of turn one. The contact immediately broke his front-left suspension, and although Antonelli tried to drag his car back to the pits, race engineer Peter Bonnington persuaded him the suspension was so significant that the team wouldn’t be able to fix it in time and he should stop.
Compounding Antonelli’s misery, the time he had already set proved quick enough to secure him a place in Q2.
Russell’s bid for pole position briefly looked under threat from the McLaren drivers in Q3. However Lando Norris locked up heavily at turn three on his final lap and went into the run-off area. That also scuppered Max Verstappen’s final attempt to set a time, leaving him eighth on the grid.
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Charles Leclerc produced his usual top-drawer performance at Baku to join Russell on the front row of the grid. Oscar Piastri, who set the quickest time at one stage in Q3, took third. Isack Hadjar out-qualified Verstappen on his return from injury.
Norris’s error left him fifth on the grid ahead of Lewis Hamilton. Both Alpine drivers reached Q3 but Franco Colapinto went off at turn 15 and ended up tenth, while Pierre Gasly took seventh ahead of Verstappen.
Carlos Sainz Jnr made good use of Williams’ upgrade, putting his car in Q3 for the first time this year. He will start ninth ahead of Colapinto.
Oliver Bearman narrowly failed to claim the final place in Q3 after Colapinto beat his time. Esteban Ocon also dropped out in Q2 in the other Haas. Alexander Albon was frustrated at his failure to join his team mate in the final 10 and dropped out along with the two Racing Bulls.
There was no great surprise that neither of the Aston Martins nor Cadillacs were able to beat Antonelli’s time in Q1. However the elimination of both Audis following their major upgrade was unexpected.
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