Max Verstappen claimed a dramatic pole position for Formula 1‘s Azerbaijan Grand Prix, as Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris made crucial errors in Q3.
The Dutchman took top spot in what was an effective one-lap shootout, when the session was resumed with three minutes to go after Piastri crashed early in the final 10 minutes.
Norris looked set to take pole, but a heavy brush with the wall saw him lose all momentum, leaving him seventh, and Piastri ninth.
Charles Leclerc also crashed, doing so before Piastri, to foot the top 10, as Carlos Sainz took a wonderful second for Williams.
Liam Lawson scored his best ever qualifying position to date with third, promising a thrilling Grand Prix on Sunday.
Albon, Hulkenberg and Colapinto find the barriers amid multiple red flags
Qualifying began with droplets of rain in the Baku air, with drivers looking to get a good banker in early, but the circuit immediately caught out Alex Albon.
With Williams looking on for a good qualifying performance, the Anglo-Thai driver clouted the wall at Turn 1, damaging his front-left suspension and curtailing his afternoon.
The incident came in just the fourth minute, bringing out the red flag.
Action resumed with much of the field queueing to get back out, with Lewis Hamilton and Piastri first and second, but the red flag was swiftly back out again.
This time, it was for Nico Hulkenberg, who planted his Sauber nose-first into the wall at Turn 4 after locking up. The front wing was gone, and a reverse back out onto the track saw him able to limp back to the pits.
With just five minutes remaining, cars were allowed back out onto the circuit with Andrea Kimi Antonelli in the bottom five, with the likes of Isack Hadjar and Esteban Ocon also in danger.
Thankfully, Hulkenberg’s damage was not too severe and was able to get back out.
Antonelli improved on his previous lap by exactly a second and stormed up into sixth place.
Norris popped up into first with a 1:41.322s, with Verstappen in second, as Hamilton dropped down to fifth.
Oliver Bearman improved to go 11th, but team-mate Ocon was out, as Hadjar leapt up into fifth place, with Stroll jumping out of the danger zone also into eighth.
As the seconds clocked down to zero, the red flag was back out again as Alpine’s day ended in doubly bad fashion. Pierre Gasly also fell foul of Turn 4, locking up and shooting up the escape road.
But at least for him, there was no contact, as the same couldn’t be said of Franco Colapinto, who shunted into the barrier at the same corner.
Hamilton dumped out of Q2
After a delay to repair the barriers, the the red flag was back out once again, this time Ollie Bearman victim of the wall. A snap on the exit of Turn 1 saw the Haas touch the barrier, seeing the right-rear suspension damaged, and his impressive performance truncated.
Another quick clean up from the marshals was required, and once cars were back out on track, another was off. This time, it was Leclerc, who opted to take to the escape road at Turn 1, and resumed without damage.
The first to take a competitive time was Sainz, who set a 1:41.675s, but was immediately displaced by Norris, who went nearly four tenths faster.
Russell and Antonelli went second and third, as Verstappen and Leclerc yet to set a time.
Hamilton was in the danger zone with three minutes to go, with Leclerc firmly in the bottom five.
The #44 could not improve and was left in 10th, as Leclerc was on a much faster lap and jumped up to fourth spot, with Alonso going eighth, condemning Hamilton to the drop zone.
Piastri went second, just under two hundredths down on Norris, as Hamilton failed to make it across the line to start one more push lap. After such confidence on Friday, Hamilton was out.
Stroll, Bortoleto and Alonso would join him and Bearman, as Tsunoda made it into Q3.
Leclerc, Piastri and Norris all come a cropper as Verstappen takes Azerbaijan GP pole
It was all set for a big showdown for pole position, as rain began to fall again, this time a little harder. Verstappen came over the radio to say the track was getting too slippery.
And that was immediately proved, as Leclerc brought out the red flag, having planted his Ferrari into the wall at Turn 15.
He was out, and with Sainz holding provisional pole, the rain began to fall even further, giving Williams a genuine opportunity of cementing it by default.
Action resumed with just over five minutes to go, as the rain appeared to hold off from the circuit.
Verstappen, Russell and Antonelli were all on Mediums, with the remainder of the six drivers competing for pole were on Softs, as Verstappen was the first to go back out.
But before he could complete his lap, the red flag was back out once again, and this time, it was a title protagonist.
At Turn 3, Piastri seemed to take too much speed into the braking zone, and slammed into the outside wall.
Thankfully, the Australian immediately reported to the team he was OK, but with just under four minutes to go, Norris was presented with a huge opportunity to grab pole amid his team-mate’s crash, albeit, due to the lack of time left, with effectively a one-lap shootout.
Almost one-and-a-half hours after qualifying began, the final three minutes of session got underway.
Norris was the first big hitter out on track, and immediately went three tenths up on Sainz’s time in Sector 1.
But he brushed the wall on exit of Turn 15, and was six tenths on Sainz by the flag, as Russell went into second, but was immediately bumped down by Lawson.
Verstappen threaded his way through the circuit and the chaos to cross the line and set a 1:41.117s, taking pole by four tenths from Sainz in second.
Lawson took third, followed by Antonelli, Russell and Tsunoda. Norris’ late error condemned him to seventh, still three places ahead of Piastri, with Hadjar eighth, the last of the drivers to complete qualifying.
READ MORE – F1 2025 Azerbaijan Grand Prix – Qualifying Results
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