Azerbaijan - Qualifying

For weeks now, Formula One has been 'the McLaren show', and many fans went into the Azerbaijan race weekend hoping to see the tide turn. Their biggest chance for a new face at the top seemed to be Charles Leclerc, a man who has been absolutely amazing around Baku the past few years and who holds both the track record and the race track record for the street circuit. With all the pressure and expectations paired with the unforgiving wind and blinding sun, was Ferrari's 'Il Predestinato' able to deliver a lap to remember?

The first qualifying session was paused before it could properly begin. Some of the drivers didn't even get to finish their first flying laps before Alex Albon grazed the wall on turn one. The hit wasn't hard, but it did damage his car enough to make it impossible for him to drive to the pits on his own. Therefore, with 11 minutes on the clock, a red flag waved over the circuit. After racing resumed, the drivers didn't get a lot of time to improve. Not long after Albon's incident, Nico Hulkenberg made contact with the barrier by turn four. He was able to cushion the crash by moving towards the runoff area. He kept the car going, but lost his front wing in the process, causing a second red flag to make an appearance.

The remaining six minutes of Q1 were tense until their very last seconds. During his last flying lap, Pierre Gasly pushed hard to try and get his Alpine out of the elimination zone. In his efforts, he went off the road and into one of the runoff areas. Seeing him stranded on the side of the circuit startled his teammate, Franco Colapinto, enough to crash into a wall by the same corner. Just as the clock ran out of time, a third red flag was announced, cutting the attempts of all drivers still fighting for position. Albon, Hulkenberg, Colapinto, and Gasly were the obvious drivers not to make it into Q2. The last place in the elimination zone belonged to Haas' Esteban Ocon.

The trend of red flags interrupting the drivers continued into Q2, with the first one appearing only three minutes after the session began. This time, it was brought out by Oliver Bearman, who hit the wall while coming out of turn two. Although the incident didn't look too severe, it did enough damage to his Haas to make it stop in the middle of the track.

The real excitement of the session was provided by none other than the pole-contender, Leclerc. As soon as racing was resumed, he tried to put a flying lap in, but went off track at its very first turn. A few minutes later, he began his second attempt, only to go off again, this time in a different place. This meant that he only had one shot to move through to Q3. To the horror of all Tifosi, it seemed like the last attempt would be over before the end of sector one, since Leclerc hit the wall at the exact same spot Bearman had only a few minutes before. Despite the odds, he was able to continue the run and went on to drive at the absolute limit, brushing against walls and speeding through corners. It worked out well as he moved up to P4 and easily made it through. The same couldn't be said about his teammate, Lewis Hamilton, whose last attempt was only good enough to put him in P10, from which he was promptly pushed to the elimination zone. Fernando Alonso, Gabriel Bortoleto, and Lance Stroll also didn't make it through.

Q3 was shaping up to be just as dramatic as its predecessors. Not long before it had begun, Max Verstappen reported that the track was extremely slippery due to slight rain. Despite all the hopes he carried on his shoulders, Leclerc was the first one to find out just how unforgiving the conditions were. After a day of testing the track's limits, he hit the wall by turn 15 and eliminated himself from contention. Yet another red flag waved over the circuit. While the moment couldn't have been worse for Leclerc, it came at the perfect time for his ex-teammate, Carlos Sainz. The Spaniard was one of the few drivers who managed to set a time before the pause and was sitting on the provisional pole. He could only hope that the conditions would keep worsening, making it impossible for anyone else to manage a better time. 

The drivers were desperate to improve after the short break and pushed their cars harder than ever before. As has been the case many times before in the session, this led to one of them trying too hard and finding the barrier. This time, the 'honour' went to the championship contender, Oscar Piastri, whose incident brought out a record-breaking sixth red flag of the qualifying. The Australian's demise was the perfect opportunity for his championship rival, Lando Norris, to make up some ground. Unfortunately for him, after the cars returned to the track for the last time, he couldn't put together a lap good enough to put him anywhere near the front row. In the terrible conditions, there was only one driver able to beat Sainz's time. Verstappen ripped the pole away from the Spaniard's grip, forcing him to settle for P2. The qualifying lasted almost two hours. 

Order of the grid:

1. Max Verstappen

2. Carlos Sainz

3. Liam Lawson

4. Kimi Antonelli

5. George Russell

6. Yuki Tsunoda

7. Lando Norris

8. Isack Hadjar

9. Oscar Piastri

10. Charles Leclerc

11. Fernando Alonso

12. Lewis Hamilton

13. Gabriel Bortoleto

14. Lance Stroll

15. Oliver Bearman

16. Franco Colapinto

17. Nico Hulkenberg

18. Esteban Ocon

19. Pierre Gasly

20. Alex Albon