Charles Leclerc secures another Baku GP pole as Lando Norris F1 title hopes take huge hit
Three different teams topped the timesheets in Azerbaijan Grand Prix practice, making qualifying predictions very difficult with the four top teams all looking to be in contention
Charles Leclerc is the Azerbaijan Grand Prix pole-sitter for the fourth year in a row after another excellent Saturday showing.
But it was a horrible afternoon for Lando Norris who suffered a shock Q1 exit. The McLaren driver failed to reach the top 10 on the grid for the first time all year, aborting his final flying lap and leaving himself with a huge job ahead to get the points he needs to keep his title hopes alive.
Ferrari looked on track to lock out the front row but Oscar Piastri put some smiles back on the faces of the McLaren staff by splitting the red cars. He will start second behind Italian Grand Prix winner Leclerc and one place ahead of Carlos Sainz who had to settle for third on the grid.
Baku specialist Sergio Perez outqualified team-mate Max Verstappen who will need to make progress from sixth on the grid to fully take advantage of Norris' woes. Lewis Hamilton was again slower than George Russell, while Alex Albo n was beaten by rookie team-mate Franco Colapinto after a huge Williams gaffe in the pit lane.
Verstappen was nervous as he embarked on his final flying lap of Q1 while sat in the bottom five, having declared over the radio: "We are nowhere." But while he made it through unscathed, his title rival Norris was unfortunate to come across yellow flags on his final flying lap and had to slow down.
The Briton will start Sunday's race 17th on the grid and in need of a remarkable rise through the pack to score the significant points haul he needs to keep his championship hopes alive. His former team-mate, Daniel Ricciardo, also failed to make it out of the bottom five.
Oliver Bearman, deputising for Kevin Magnussen who is serving a one-race suspension, punched his steering wheel in frustration as he narrowly missed out on a Q3 berth, qualifying 11th in his Haas. But it was still a very impressive performance from the British teenager who went much faster than team-mate Nico Hulkenberg.
And it was a similarly eye-catching day for Colapinto, in only his second ever F1 qualifying session. Having been temporarily brought in to replace the axed Logan Sargeant, he went sixth fastest in Q1 to secure a double Williams presence in the final part of the session, with Albon 10th.
Lance Stroll was only 15th fastest but his team-mate Fernando Alonso managed to put some smiles on the faces of those in the Aston Martin garage by securing a place in Q3. He went eighth quickest, ahead of the Williams cars who both did well to make it into the top 10.
But a pit lane gaffe cost Albon the chance to do any better as, when he left the garage for his final flying lap, he found he still had a cooling fan attached to his car. He was able to remove it by hand and drop it off the side of the car, but too much time had elapsed while he struggled with it and so he didn't make it to the timing line to start one more flying lap.
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