Max Verstappen starts the Azerbaijan Grand Prix of pole position alongside Carlos Sainz after a two-hour marathon qualifying session with a record of six red flags and a crash for championship leader Oscar Piastri.
Piastri wore far too much speed in bend 3, sailed along the top and stuck under the wall, the front of his car disappeared in the TECPRO barriers.
The title leader and 2024 Baku winner, who did not start lower than fourth this season, starts the Grand Prix Ninth on Sunday, two places behind the Rival Lando Norris championship in the seventh. He was only saved in 10th place when the series of Charles Leclerc of four consecutive Poles in Azerbaijan was broken by a crash on bend 15 in light rain earlier in Q3.
The Ferrari driver came too fast the difficult mountain-off left-hand rear, locked his left tires and Sping helpless in the barriers. It has worsened a disastrous session for pole hopeful Ferrari, who also suffered from Lewis Hamilton who was eliminated in Q2 because of the tire strategy.
Both Q3-Crashes caused red flags-the fifth and record-breaking sixth of the session-for which only Carlos Sainz, Liam Lawson and Isack Hadjar managed to set up for a while.
There was enough time for just one flying round when the session finally resumed its double suspensions. Light rain complicated the scenario for people without a time, but it was music for Sainz’s ears, where the driver could not beat him after the driver.
Norris most likely seemed to cut the top position of the Spaniard, and the Brit had been given an open goal to possibly score heavily against his crashed teammate. But the Championship Challenger came in too quickly and hit the right tires against the barriers. He continued to complete the round, but it wasn’t enough to take the first place.
Instead, it was for Verstappen to refuse Sainz with a superlative round in difficult, high -pressure conditions, where the Dutchman drops the benchmark to 1m41.117s to take a pole with 0.478s.
“It was very difficult to get your lap together,” he said. “Especially Q3, with a little rain in the neighborhood, it was a very difficult session – then you just have to send it in the final round.
“I am very happy so far how the weekend has disappeared, because we were not too bad of FP1 and we just kept improving with a small amount, and we were in qualifying, that is when it matters.”
“I am happy because it seems like we have been doing better since Monza. I hope we can continue that way.”
No other driver was able to get even with 0.1s Sainz, whose version early in Q3 was crucial for his best qualifying result since the Qatar Grand Prix of last year and the first start of Williams in the front row since the Belgian Grand Prix of 2021.
“To be honest, we have nailed the qualification today, every time at the right time on the right bond and putting together a number of very strong laps,” he said. “It is clear that the moment that a top car brought the round together, we would be 0.4s, 0.5s behind it as we are always, but there was only one, what max. The others, we succeeded in beating them.
“I have put together good rounds in qualifying this year. Again, we have proven the speed in this car and this team is there when it comes to delivering qualification when it counts.”
Lawson starts an excellent third after the best qualifying result of his career, after improvement with his final round.
“To be honest, I can’t even remember what happened, it was so busy,” he said. “The car was good all weekend. When he had to be in Quali, it was good.
“We have a great starting position, but we are aware of who we are fighting around us, and we are aimed at that.”
Andrea Kimi Antonelli surpasses teammate George Russell for the second time this season, the Mercedes drivers qualify and fifth, although the Italian will see the stewards after the session for an alleged yellow flag infringement of Q1.
Yuki Tsunoda qualified sixth, his best result since the Australian Grand Prix when he was in the Racing Bulls car, before Norris and Hadjar. The crashed-out Piastri and Leclerc start ninth and 10th.
Fernando Alonso became 11th after missing an unlikely Q3 location with 0.069s.
Hamilton was a shock abnormality in the 12th after an attempt to complete most of the session on a single set of soft tires. That made him vulnerable, with his last flying round he placed 10th in the order, and then Alonso and then, ironically, teammate Leclerc dumped him out of safety and until his starting position.
Gabriel Bortoleto qualified 13th for Lance Stroll, who was stumbled in bend 1 in his final round by a strong tail wind.
Oliver Bearman qualified for a while in Q2 after a breakthrough of his suspension of the right side against the barriers that Turn 2 left on his first flying round, causing the fourth red flag of the afternoon.
Franco Colapinto is in 16th place after the crash of Q1 on his last flying round in an incident with teammate Pierre Gasly.
Gasly was blown in the run-off zone in turn 4 by a wandering gust of wind, his last round spoiled and white flags activated-what a slow or stopped car indicates-on the corner. Colapinto was a bit far behind him and lost control of his alpine while he navigated through the corner.
His car struck heavily in the external barrier, became temporarily in the air before he came to rest in a lot and caused a red flag. The Argentinian ran away from the wreck without injured, but was eliminated for qualifying.
Nico Hulkenberg was also in turn of 4 barrier, locked and moved directly into the wall in Q1 to cause a red flag. The German was able to return to Pit Lane without his front wing to join the session again, but damage to his floor caused him not to improve, making him the 17th.
Esteban Ocon qualified the 18th for Gasly and Alex Albon, who crashed from Q1 when he cut the Apex barrier at the first turn, immediately broke his suspension and puts him on the right track, which activated the first red flag of the afternoon.
Result
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