Valtteri Bottas beat Lewis Hamilton to pole position in a frenetic and twice-delayed qualifying session for Formula 1’s Azerbaijan Grand Prix, as Ferrari’s challenge faltered.
Ferrari had set the pace throughout the weekend at the Baku City Circuit but erstwhile pacesetter Charles Leclerc crashed out in Q2, while Sebastian Vettel wound up only third.
Leclerc had set the pace through all three practice sessions but a lock-up into Turn 8 during Q2 left him in the barriers and out of the session, and also caused a lengthy delay to qualifying.
That came in the wake of a first delay caused by Robert Kubica crashing in the same place in Q1, with both incidents meaning Q3 finished almost an hour later than scheduled and with the sunset time looming.
Mercedes had been over a second off the pace in FP3 but in Q3 Hamilton laid down an early benchmark to edge Vettel, with Bottas in third position.
But a scruffy first sector on his second push lap left Hamilton on the back foot; Vettel improved – though not by enough to dislodge Hamilton.
Bottas subsequently vaulted from third to first with a new track record – setting a time of 1:40.495 – but the pursuing Hamilton was unable to unseat his team-mate, finishing 0.059s down.
Vettel was left in third, three-tenths behind Bottas, while Red Bull’s Max Verstappen was fourth, having completed his Q3 effort mid-way through the session.
Baku specialist Sergio Perez was a stellar fifth for Racing Point, with Daniil Kvyat finally putting Toro Rosso into Q3 as he classified sixth.
Lando Norris took seventh for McLaren while both Alfa Romeo drivers made it through to Q3, where Antonio Giovinazzi beat Kimi Raikkonen.
Giovinazzi, though, will drop 10 places on the grid due to exceeding his engine allocation.
Carlos Sainz Jr. missed out on a Q3 spot by just 0.018s but will start from the top 10 owing to Giovinazzi’s penalty, while Renault’s tricky weekend continued as Daniel Ricciardo took only 12th.
Alexander Albon had a wild moment through the exit of Turn 15 but kept his Toro Rosso STR14 out of the wall en route to 13th spot.
Kevin Magnussen finished last of the 14 drivers who set a Q2 time after running wide into the Turn 2 run-off on his final push lap.
Due to his penalty (starting from the pit lane) for missing the weighbridge Pierre Gasly did not set a time in Q2, having been quickest overall in Q1.
Lance Stroll brushed the wall his initial Q1 push lap and failed to find sufficient time thereafter, meaning he was eliminated at the first hurdle for the eighth race in a row.
Romain Grosjean and Nico Hulkenberg both struggled during practice and their low-key weekends continued, with the Haas driver only 17th, with Renault’s Hulkenberg 18th.
Williams’ miserable weekend – and season – continued as another session mired off the pace was compounded by Kubica’s hefty crash.
Kubica clipped the wall on the inside of the narrow Turn 8 and the impact sent him ricocheting into the outside barriers.
The impact caused substantial damage to the front-right of the Williams FW42 and also caused a red flag that brought the session to an early halt.
It also caused a 30-minute delay to the start of Q2 while barrier repairs were undertaken.
Kubica wound up four-tenths adrift of team-mate George Russell but even the reigning F2 champion was a mammoth 1.6s down on nearest opponent Hulkenberg.
Sunday’s 51-lap Azerbaijan Grand Prix is scheduled for 16:10 local time
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