Ferrari's Charles Leclerc took top spot for Sunday's Azerbaijan Grand Prix, the first non-Red Bull pole position of 2023 with Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez having to settle for second and third on the grid respectively.
Carlos Sainz finished fourth despite a scrappy session for the Ferrari man, putting him ahead of Lewis Hamilton whose Mercedes team mate George Russell failed to make it into the final round of Friday afternoon's qualifying session.
Alpine's Pierre Gasly and AlphaTauri's Nyck de Vries will start at the back after causing red flags with accidents in Q1. Kevin Magnussen also lost out with an electrical issue on the Haas, leaving him lining up P18 on the grid for Sunday's race.
It had been an unusually long hiatus since the last race in Australia at the start of April, owing to the cancellation of this year's Chinese GP due to COVID concerns, allowing teams to bring in a welter of new upgrades and components for the weekend. Perhaps that contributed to a distinct sense of 'start of a new term' excitement in the paddock at Baku, or maybe it was because of the unknown factor of a brand new weekend format with the latest changes to the sprint race.
Whatever the changes over the intervening period, it looked like Red Bull and Max Verstappen had been able to pick up where they had left off in Melbourne. They remained firmly in control of practice, topping the one and only such session earlier in the day. Carlos Sainz and Yuki Tsunoda had tapped the wall during the hour while the hard-working Alpine mechanics just managed to win their race against time to have Pierre Gasly's car ready in time for qualifying after his morning 'hydraulics' flame-out.
Q1: Leclerc pips Verstappen after de Vries and Gasly crash
Today's qualifying session adhered to the familiar long-standing format, beginning with an 18-minute session. Everyone was quick to head out on soft tyres when the lights at the end of pit lane went green, with the singular exception of AlphaTauri rookie Nyck de Vries. The Haas cars of Nico Hulkenberg and Kevin Magnussen were first on the board but it was Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton who then went top with a time of 1:43.676s.
There were quicker laps for Valtteri Bottas, Lance Stroll and Alex Albon, before the two improved McLarens of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri went to the top. They weren't there for long before the inevitable appearance of Ferrari's Charles Leclerc and then Verstappen, who despite problems with his headrest managed to set a time of 1:41.887s. That was two tenths quicker than the Monegasque, with Fernando Alonso soon slotting in to third in the Aston Martin.
There was a harmless spin for Zhou Guanyu after the Alfa Romeo touched the kerb at turn 1, but it didn't cause any disruption - unlike an accident seconds later for de Vries, finally starting his run only to sail off into the wall at turn 3 with brake-by-wire problems. That was bad news for Carlos Sainz, who was still on his flying lap when the red flags came out to suspend the session. The AT04's nose was firmly embedded in the TechPro barrier meaning an extended intermission, which came as a relief to Magnussen who reported to the Haas pit wall that he was suffering a recurrence of the electrical problem that had curtailed his practice session.
Q1 resumed after a 14 minute delay, with many cars queueing on pit lane to be first out when the lights went green again. However before anyone could set a time there was another red flag, and this time it was for Gasly whose repaired Alpine came in too fast and broadsided the wall at turn 3, the same point as de Vries' earlier accident. "I couldn't stop the car," he wailed. At least this time the car didn't impale itself on the TechPro, meaning a shorter interruption. However Sainz was still without a representative lap time - and in any case the Ferrari had already gone for a spin at turn 1 before the latest stoppage. He fortunately avoided damaging the car by staying away from the wall.
There were still seven and a half minutes on the clock when the session resumed, hoping for third time lucky. Many drivers were becoming concerned by how low the sun was getting in the sky, shining right into their eyes at key corners even though sunset was still a good two hours away, Verstappen calling it "annoying" while Leclerc asked for a new helmet with a darker visor - only to be told he was already sporting the darkest one available. "Okay", he replied over the team radio, with an audible shrug.
Once more unto the breach: this time the two Williams cars moved into the top ten, and Sergio Perez went top before Verstappen put him back in his box by setting a new time of 1:41.398s. Hamilton improved to fourth ahead of Norris and Albon followed by Alonso and Stroll, and George Russell in ninth ahead of Sainz who had finally completed a flying lap in tenth. Looking at risk of elimination were the two Alfa Romeos, together with Magnussen whose car was indeed confirmed as suffering a terminal issue and ordered to return to pit lane for an early finish.
Bottas and Zhou both had one last chance to escape the cut. Bottas pulled it off and completed the first round in P14, but Zhou's improved time wasn't quite enough to put him ahead of Esteban Ocon and he ended up being eliminated in P16 along with Hulkenberg, Magnussen, Gasly and de Vries. Meanwhile Leclerc had punched in a late flier to take the top spot ahead of Verstappen and Alonso, with Perez fourth from Russell, Hamilton, Norris, Alonso, Sainz and Tsunoda.
Q2: Verstappen back in charge as Russell misses the cut
The Mercedes mechanics were busy in the brief pause before Q2 as they checked over Hamilton's car after he brushed the barriers at turn 15 on his final first round flying lap. Fortunately the W14 seemed no worse for wear and was ready to get back to work again when the track went back to green. Red Bull were the last of the initial group to head out, while the Ferrari drivers and Lando Norris held back and bided their time.
First completed lap up on the screens was Albon setting a benchmark of 1:42.203s on used soft tyres on the Williams, but he was soon muscled aside by significantly better efforts from Alonso, Russell, Hamilton, Ocon and Stroll. Perez' time of 1:41.131s actually proved good enough to prevail over that of his team mate by 0.062s. When the Ferraris finally came out to play, Leclerc took up third ahead of Alonso and Sainz, with Stroll improving to sixth ahead of Russell. Tsunoda and Ocon had pushed ahead of Hamilton leaving Albon, Piastri, Bottas and Logan Sargeant in the drop zone together with Norris who was yet to make his run.
Leclerc then went top by 0.094 from Perez as Albon's final run proved good enough to push him up to P7 - only to be promptly pipped first by Norris making his bow at last, and then by improved laps for Hamilton and Russell. It put the two Silver Arrows narrowly ahead of the Williams, leaving Albon on the bubble in tenth as yellow flags were waved for another wayward moment for Sainz at turn 1. The Ferrari was able to reverse out of trouble meaning that the session was able to continue without another interruption.
A final flurry of fliers saw Verstappen wrest back the top spot from Leclerc, followed by Perez and Sainz with Alonso fifth from Norris, and Tsunoda and Stroll up to seventh and eighth ahead of a last lunge from Piastri - leaving Hamilton surviving on the bubble in tenth and Russell dramatically missing the cut in 11th after taking too much kerb with a snap of oversteer at turn 16 on his final run. Joining him on the sidelines were Ocon, Albon, Bottas and Sargeant.
Q3: Leclerc snaps up pole ahead of Verstappen and Perez
There was one final 12-minute pole shoot-out round remaining for the ten cars still in contention. Perez took point ahead of Verstappen with both Red Bulls on new soft tyres and potentially trying to collaborate on a slipstream 'tow' down the long straight. Perez crossed the line setting a time of 1:40.563s but Verstappen was 0.118s quicker - as was Leclerc, who matched the Dutch driver's lap time down to the thousandth of a second. Sainz was half a second behind in fourth followed by Hamilton, Norris, Tsunoda and Alonso, with Stroll and Piastri yet to run.
It was Stroll who was next up as the earlier runners headed for pit lane, leaving a clear road for the Canadian that saw him go P7 despite reporting an issue with his DRS. Piastri was the last driver to set a time, but it didn't lift him out of tenth. The rest of the drivers were mobilising for one last run, Sainz on used softs after so many interrupted runs in Q1 while Norris had the advantage of a new set of the same compound.
Digging deep, it was Leclerc who found something extra special to take his third consecutive pole position at Baku with a time of 1:40.203s, putting him two tenths ahead of Verstappen who simply didn't have the speed to keep up with his rival on this occasion. Perez held on to third from Sainz and Hamilton, while Alonso found extra speed to go sixth ahead of Norris, Tsunoda, Stroll and Piastri.
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