Charles Leclerc beat Oscar Piastri to pole position for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix after title contender Lando Norris was shockingly knocked out of qualifying in 17th.
McLaren’s admission earlier this week that it would bias its operations to benefit Norris’s bid to close his 62-point deficit to Max Verstappen in the drivers’ championship was thrown for a loop by a bizarre case of confusion over yellow flags on the Briton’s final flying lap.
A rapidly evolving track meant earlier laps were quickly rendered obsolete, dumping Norris into the drop zone as the checkered flag fell. He was on track to improve enough to make it through to Q2, but a wide moment exiting Turn 16 coincided with what Norris appeared to think was a yellow flag, only for television replays to reveal it was a white flag warning of a slow-moving Esteban Ocon far off the racing line.
Norris nonetheless boxed rather than completing his lap, condemning him to 17th on the grid.
“Mate, I’m sorry,” his engineer, Will Joseph, radioed as he entered the lane.
It was a particularly costly mistake given Verstappen and Red Bull Racing again failed to fire in the battle for pole, with the Dutchman no match for the pole-bound Leclerc. The Ferrari driver was peerless over a single lap, building progressively through the hour before unleashing in Q3 to set the benchmark at an unassailable 1m41.365s, gapping the field by 0.321s to claim his fourth successive Baku pole.
“It’s one of my favorite tracks of the season,” he said of the unusual street circuit. “I really like it.
“The pace was always there, and then in qualifying and Q3 it was all about trying to stay as far as possible out of the walls. The last lap I went for it a bit more and the lap time came really nicely. The car felt really good and everything felt great. It’s amazing to be on pole.”
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Piastri in second demonstrated what could have been for Norris had he made it through to Q3, setting himself up on the front row.
“I just tried to really get the most out of it,” he said. “This track really rewards commitment. The last laps in Q3 I knew I had a lot less to lose, so I just tried to maximize the car.
“I was feeling good all the way through. I’m very happy with Q3.”
Carlos Sainz made it a Ferrari one-three result, lapping 0.44s slower than Leclerc but crucially earning the team what could be a critical strategic advantage against Piastri in the race.
“I think we had a solid quali day in general with two cars,” he said. “We’ve put ourselves in a very good position for tomorrow. To be P3 is a good position for tomorrow, as also my race pace yesterday seemed strong, so all to play for.”
Sergio Perez outqualified teammate Verstappen for the first time this season, putting his car fourth and 0.448s off the pace on another difficult afternoon for Red Bull Racing, which never looked in the battle for pole.
Verstappen, who complained early in qualifying of a bouncing rear axle, was sixth fastest and 0.21s slower than Perez, with George Russell splitting the teammates for Mercedes in fifth. His teammate, Lewis Hamilton, followed in seventh ahead of Fernando Alonso in eighth.
Franco Colapinto was superb in his second appearance for Williams, qualifying ninth and handing teammate Alex Albon his first grand prix qualifying defeat of the year. Albon, however, failed to set his final lap after his team bizarrely forgot to remove the fan from his roll hoop airbox before sending him out onto the track.
Albon was forced to stop at pit exit, where he removed the fan himself and discarded it by the side of the road, but by the time he got going again he’d missed his chance to start his lap before the session ended, leaving him 10th and under post-session investigation for an unsafe release.
Oliver Bearman was enormously impressive in his second-ever F1 qualifying session and first for Haas to put himself 11th on the grid and 0.223s ahead of teammate Nico Hulkenberg, who was three places further back. There could have been more on the table for the Briton too, with a lock-up on his final lap costing him a better time.
Yuki Tsunoda qualified 12th for RB ahead of Alpine’s Pierre Gasly and Hulkenberg, with Lance Stroll ending Q2 slowest in 15th.
Daniel Ricciardo was pipped for a spot in Q2, leaving him 16th ahead of Norris.
Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu qualified 18th and 19th respectively, though Zhou will be demoted to 20th behind Esteban Ocon with a power unit penalty.
