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Max Verstappen claimed pole position for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix on the streets of Baku in an extraordinary, chaotic qualifying session interrupted by six red-flag stoppages.
Bar the Red Bull driver, the leading protagonists were all found wanting as Carlos Sainz took an unexpected second place for Williams and Liam Lawson a third for Racing Bulls.
Driver after driver was caught out in the long session, including a remarkable unforced error from Oscar Piastri. The championship leader ploughed into the wall and will start Sunday’s race in ninth place. However, his title rival and teammate Lando Norris failed to capitalise when he too brushed the wall on his final lap and managed only seventh.
Lewis Hamilton was disappointed to manage only 12th place, knocked out in Q2 for Ferrari after he had felt more confident in the car. His teammate Charles Leclerc, four times a pole-winner in Baku, also crashed out in Q3 and finished in 10th. Kimi Antonelli and George Russell were in fourth and fifth for Mercedes.
The session lasted a full two hours after the six separate red-flag stoppages. The drivers repeatedly caught out by the walls of the street circuit and the final laps took place as the sun had begun to sink lower in the sky.
The McLarens and Verstappen had vied with one another through the opening phases and there was little to choose between them as they set out on their opening hot laps in Q3 just as light rain began to pepper the track.
Sainz had set the opening quickest lap to take the top spot only for Leclerc to cause the fifth red flag of the session after he put it in the wall at turn 15, carrying too much speed. Crucially, it was before the other main contenders had set their times and as the track became more slippery.
“You can start dancing to see if it rains a bit harder, no?,” Sainz urged his team but during the stoppage the sun broke through once more as the session resumed with seven minutes left on a dry track.
Putting in a clean, quick lap was vital in the final minutes and Verstappen was out first, but before he could finish a lap, Piastri too was caught out. The Australian went in far too hot at turn three and hit hard, front-first into the barrier. The red flag was deployed once more before anyone had set a time. “I braked a little bit late,” he said. “It was a case of trying a little bit too hard and paying the price.”
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Just under four minutes remained for a final chance at pole as the light drizzle returned, with Sainz still clinging on at the top. Norris knew he had to take advantage and headed out first in what was now a one-shot showdown to decide the grid. It was impossibly tense as Norris wrestled the car, squirming beneath him on what was clearly a damp track, but he too brushed the wall at turn 16. It was hugely costly, shattering his chances of putting a big point swing on Piastri.
Verstappen, as ever given a chance, grasped it and was flying, quickest in the first sector he held his nerve and control to claim the top spot with a 1min 41.117sec lap, with Sainz maintaining second and Lawson putting in a superb lap for third.
Given the Williams was in good form in Baku, Alex Albon was disappointed to be knocked out in Q1 after hitting the wall at turn one, causing the session to be stopped while his car was removed and he finished in 20th.
The session was stopped again shortly afterwards when Nico Hülkenberg likewise put his Sauber in the wall at turn four but was able to return to the pits. It was the second of three red flags in the first session after Franco Colapinto also took a major hit into the barriers at the very end of Q1. Oliver Bearman added a fourth red flag early in Q2 when he clouted the wall at turn two breaking his suspension.
