Russell takes Baku pole by 0.837 seconds as Antonelli crashes and Verstappen’s engine lets him down
Leclerc and Piastri split by a thousandth, Hadjar fourth, Antonelli 16th after hitting the wall in Q1
George Russell will start the Azerbaijan Grand Prix from pole position after a qualifying lap of 1:42.526 that left the rest of the field 0.837 seconds behind. Charles Leclerc was second for Ferrari and Oscar Piastri third, only 0.001 seconds slower than Leclerc. It is Russell’s fifth pole of the season, and it came on a day when his Mercedes team-mate Kimi Antonelli, the championship leader, crashed out in the first part of qualifying.
“It’s been a while, so it definitely feels good,” Russell said. “It’s probably the biggest margin of my whole career, even including F2, F3 days, so the lap felt really sweet.”
Russell kept finding time when the others had stopped
Russell was fastest in Q1 and Q2, but his first run in Q3 was not good enough to stay on top. Lando Norris and then Piastri took provisional pole, Piastri with help from a slipstream. Russell then put together a lap that was around four tenths clear of Leclerc, and went quicker again on his final attempt. His Q3 time was almost a full second faster than his own best in Q2.
Isack Hadjar qualified fourth in his first qualifying session since returning from the wrist injury that kept him out for three races. Norris was fifth after locking up on his final lap, ahead of Lewis Hamilton and Pierre Gasly.
Antonelli hit the inside wall at Turn 1
Antonelli’s session lasted five laps. In Q1 he hit the inside wall at Turn 1, which damaged the front-left suspension. He tried to bring the car back, but his race engineer Peter Bonnington told him to park it because the damage could not be repaired in time. His best lap of 1:45.504 left him 16th, and he starts the race from there with his title lead on the line.
Verstappen: “Something is seriously wrong”
Max Verstappen had topped final practice this morning and was second-fastest in Q2, but he starts eighth. His best Q3 lap of 1:44.081 was slower than his Q2 time. Already in Q1 he complained on the radio that the car was “bottoming like crazy on the front, I can’t brake”.
Afterwards he described an engine problem. “The engine wasn’t working properly throughout qualifying,” Verstappen said, as quoted on his own website. “We had made an adjustment to the car, but it wasn’t working. I was already half a second down on the straights compared to my teammate.” In Q3 his battery was not charging. “You want to push for your middle lap and suddenly I’m told that my battery isn’t full. It’s not charging, it’s not working.” On his final lap he also had a yellow flag for Norris ahead of him.
“It was like pulling the handbrake in certain corners. So yeah, something is seriously wrong. It’s not good enough,” he said. “I don’t know if we can fix this with this engine.”
Aston Martin drop to the back row
Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll were knocked out in Q1, and both take grid penalties for new power unit components. That moves them to the back row and promotes the Cadillacs: Valtteri Bottas starts 19th and Sergio Pérez 20th, after the stewards gave Pérez a three-place penalty for impeding Oscar Piastri. Carlos Sainz also drops five places to 14th for not slowing under yellow flags. The official starting grid after penalties has the full order. Both Audi drivers also went out in Q1 despite a major upgrade package.
Qualifying results
| Pos | No | Driver | Team | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 63 | George Russell | Mercedes | 1:43.615 | 1:43.462 | 1:42.526 |
| 2 | 16 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | 1:44.360 | 1:43.780 | 1:43.363 |
| 3 | 81 | Oscar Piastri | McLaren | 1:45.014 | 1:43.814 | 1:43.364 |
| 4 | 6 | Isack Hadjar | Red Bull | 1:44.161 | 1:43.880 | 1:43.500 |
| 5 | 1 | Lando Norris | McLaren | 1:44.571 | 1:44.020 | 1:43.672 |
| 6 | 44 | Lewis Hamilton | Ferrari | 1:44.260 | 1:44.037 | 1:43.858 |
| 7 | 10 | Pierre Gasly | Alpine | 1:44.489 | 1:44.106 | 1:44.047 |
| 8 | 3 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | 1:44.041 | 1:43.706 | 1:44.081 |
| 9 | 55 | Carlos Sainz | Williams | 1:45.104 | 1:44.629 | 1:44.566 |
| 10 | 43 | Franco Colapinto | Alpine | 1:45.106 | 1:44.683 | 1:44.963 |
| 11 | 87 | Oliver Bearman | Haas | 1:45.228 | 1:44.775 | |
| 12 | 30 | Liam Lawson | Racing Bulls | 1:45.535 | 1:44.860 | |
| 13 | 23 | Alex Albon | Williams | 1:45.031 | 1:45.001 | |
| 14 | 31 | Esteban Ocon | Haas | 1:45.039 | 1:45.016 | |
| 15 | 41 | Arvid Lindblad | Racing Bulls | 1:45.381 | 1:45.106 | |
| 16 | 12 | Kimi Antonelli | Mercedes | 1:45.504 | ||
| 17 | 5 | Gabriel Bortoleto | Audi | 1:45.799 | ||
| 18 | 27 | Nico Hülkenberg | Audi | 1:45.920 | ||
| 19 | 14 | Fernando Alonso | Aston Martin | 1:46.593 | ||
| 20 | 11 | Sergio Pérez | Cadillac | 1:46.658 | ||
| 21 | 18 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin | 1:47.337 | ||
| 22 | 77 | Valtteri Bottas | Cadillac | 1:48.290 |
Qualifying classification from the official Formula 1 results. Grid penalties for Alonso and Stroll apply to the starting grid.
Our take on Saturday: Russell’s to lose
A margin of eight tenths in qualifying is not something rivals recover in one night, and Mercedes have been the most consistent car since Thursday. We make Russell the clear favourite. The questions are how far Antonelli can climb from 16th on a circuit where overtaking is possible, and whether Red Bull can fix Verstappen’s engine without a penalty.
When the race starts
The Azerbaijan Grand Prix starts on Saturday at 15:00 local time, 13:00 in the Netherlands and Belgium. Catch up on final practice, where Verstappen was fastest, and our full Baku timetable.
