Chaotic two-hour Qualifying sees Verstappen clinch Baku pole

In one of the wildest Qualifying sessions Formula 1 has ever seen, Baku delivered two hours of chaos, six Red Flags, and a shock final order that saw Max Verstappen claim pole ahead of Carlos Sainz and Liam Lawson, while Oscar Piastri crashed out in a rare mistake.

Qualifying 1:

After Formula 1 confirmed Baku will remain on the calendar through to 2030, the ‘City of Wind’ lived up to its name with gusty conditions greeting drivers at the start of Qualifying for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.

Wasting no time on the clock, the pitlane instantly burst to life as the light went green to kickstart Q1, with all cars barring Car #81 slowly filing out onto the Baku City Circuit. 

Oscar Piastri was the final challenger to join the opening stage of Qualifying, with his MCL39 undergoing late revisions before his front wing was fitted and the ‘OK’ was given. 

On the charge and setting personal best sector times, Piastri’s out-of-sync opening run was brought to a premature halt due to a mid-session Red Flag, leaving the Australian with a tougher task than his competitors when Q1 picked back up.

The only driver in the same position as the Australian was Kimi Antonelli, who was instructed to abandon his lap due to double-waved yellow flags, however, he failed to spot the warning symbols at the time, placing him under post-session investigation for a yellow flag infringement.

Putting his medium tyres to work, Piastri picked up where he left off, setting personal best sector times and crossing the line just two seconds before a second Red Flag was declared, luckily boosting the Australian to P2 with a time of 1:41.839s.

That lap remained Piastri’s fastest of Q1, with the Australian breezing into Q2 with the seventh fastest time.

Setting a solid opening effort of 1:42.448s, Liam Lawson initially placed his VCARB 02 at the top of the pack before settling into a gifted P4 as a Red Flag took over the session.

Missing out on joining the pitlane queue ahead of the restart, the Racing Bulls mechanics wheeled Lawson back into his garage before releasing him at the back of the pack.

Darting out of his competitors’ way during his out-of-sync outlap, Lawson finally launched on his C6 tyres, however, his position at the back of the pack meant he was unable to complete his run when yet another Red Flag struck the circuit. 

Despite a light brush with the barrier, Lawson made up almost two-tenths on his final flying lap, which he completed just moments before a third Red Flag was declared in Q1, seeing the Kiwi advance to Q2 in P11.

As for the rest of the field, the early front runners in a heavily disrupted session were expectedly Ferrari, McLaren, and Red Bull, with Antonelli the outlier at the very bottom of the order and requiring words of encouragement from the Mercedes big boss, Toto Wolff. 

In the midst of the opening runs, Turn 15 almost caught even the most experienced drivers out, with Nico Hulkenberg the first to scuff his tyres along the barriers at the sharp corner, before a big mistake from Alex Albon brought out the first red Flag of the session. 

Charging into the apex of the first turn, Albon took too tight a line and made heavy contact with the inside wall, instantly breaking his front suspension and bringing his session to a close as he rolled to a stop metres down the road.

With the broken Williams sitting close to the Turn 1 run-off area, the Red Flag was relatively short-lived, and the session was back up and running with just over 11 minutes on the clock.

The long queue of cars gradually exited the pitlane once the track was clear, however, it was a short-lived tenure as a second Red Flag was called for an incident involving Hulkenberg and the tricky Turn 4. 

Steering hot into the unforgiving corner, the Sauber driver was unable to back out of his failed attempt at making the turn, and instead drove-nose first into the barrier.

Hulkenberg was able to reverse out of the scene of the crash, leaving behind his front wing and sustaining significant floor damage in the process. 

The session restarted with just over six minutes remaining in Q1, with drivers tussling for track position after a place at the head of the field was continuing to prove so vital. 

Sitting in the bottom five, Lance Stroll, Gabriel Bortoleto, a revived Hulkenberg, and Antonelli were the three drivers with the biggest task ahead of them, while the likes of Pierre Gasly, Isack Hadjar, and Esteban Ocon were the next trio at risk of losing their position. 

Not facing as much worry were the Ferrari duo, who circulated in P1 and P3, as well as the Red Bull duo, who occupied P4 and P5 on the medium compound tyre.

A slow first sector boosted Antonelli into the top six while Russell flew to P1, however, it was a short-lived peak for the #63 after Norris, Verstappen, and Leclerc completed the top three as the session came to a close.

Q1 ended in a dramatic fashion for Alpine, with Gasly heading straight into the run-off area after locking up due to a gust of wind at Turn 4, later distracting his rookie teammate, who slammed his car into the barriers on the exit of Turn 4, leaving it crumpled as a third Red Flag concluded the session.

As a result, both Alpine drivers were eliminated in Q1, alongside Hulkenberg’s wounded Sauber, Esteban Ocon, and Albon’s equally out-of-action Williams car.

Qualifying 2:

With the debris from Franco Colapinto’s heavy shunt requiring a few extra moments to be cleared, there was a delayed start to the second stage of Qualifying around the unforgiving streets of Baku. 

The sole remaining Williams driver was the first to roll out of the pitlane, with Carlos Sainz guiding the impatient queue of cars back on track for a 15-minute session, which was soon brought to a halt.

Slamming the wall at the exit of Turn 2, Ollie Bearman was responsible for the fourth Red Flag in Qualifying, bringing his damaged VF-25 to a stop in the middle of the road and sounding defeated as he reported the car was “broken”.

Q2 restarted with 12 minutes on the clock, with the Ferrari duo securing the coveted lead positions at the front of the queue, while the likes of Red Bull remained without tyres on in the garage. 

Ruining both Italian cars’ runs, however, Leclerc ran in too hot to the first turn and spoiled his lap, also forcing Hamilton to slow due to the yellow flags warning of the #16 Ferrari’s halted presence.

The medium tyre proved to be a threat for P1, with three out of five of the top times being set on the C5 compound, while Norris held his own at the head of the field with a benchmark of 1:41.396s.

At the backend of the order, Leclerc was the only driver yet to record a lap after he once again aborted to the run-off on his second attempt.

Accompanying Car #16 in the elimination zone were both Aston Martin drivers and Gabriel Bortoleto, while Hamilton was the driver at risk in P10.

With two minutes on the clock, Hamilton crossed the line and improved on his time, however, he remained in the at-risk tenth position.

Fernando Alonso made the Tifosi’s nightmares a reality as he demoted the seven-time world champion to P11, before the second-running Ferrari, moving into P6 despite a brush with the wall, pushed Hamilton further down the order to a final grid position of P12.

At the last moment, Yuki Tsunoda found the necessary pace to secure a place in Q3, demoting Alonso back into the bottom five along with his Brazilian protégé Bortoleto, Lance Stroll, and the retired Haas driver.

Building confidence for the upcoming ten-car shootout for pole position, Max Verstappen secured P1 at the final moment with a time of 1:41.255s, outpacing Norris and Piastri by a tenth and a half.

Qualifying 3:

Unlike the earlier sessions, the pitlane was empty at the start of the final stage of Qualifying, with Lawson the first driver to rejoin the circuit, raising concerns that light rain had arrived at Turn 1. 

Russell was the first to face the consequences of the slippery conditions as he ran straight off at Turn 4, however, his incident soon looked minuscule as Leclerc barrelled into the barrier at Turn 15 after locking up as he approached the apex.

With car #16 crushed at the tight corner, the fifth Red Flag of the session was declared as the drivers reported the rain intensifying, likening the grip levels on the white painted lines to “ice” on their in-lap.

Leading the first haul of attempts, the Kiwi was the first of only three drivers who managed to record a time, crossing the line with a time of 1:42.560s, which left him in P2 during the pause.

Asking his team to “start dancing to see if it rains harder”, Carlos Sainz was one of the three drivers praying the rain would increase during the delay, with the Spaniard sitting in provisional pole position ahead of the Racing Bulls duo.

The session restarted with seven minutes on the clock, and with the weather conditions dampening, teams wasted no time as they hurried their way out of the pitlane.

Sitting at the front of the line on a scrubbed set of medium tyres, Verstappen led the queue back into the unknown conditions posed by the Baku City Street Circuit.

Momentarily spoiling Sainz’s dream, Verstappen was instantly two-tenths up on the Williams driver’s time through the first sector, with Lando Norris going even quicker, however, Sainz was saved by a record-breaking sixth Red Flag caused by the last driver in the queue. 

Committing to the corner before it quickly became clear that the run-off area was his only option, the championship leader shockingly crashed out of Qualifying at Turn 3 after braking too late, his first big mistake since his trip across the grass at the Australian Grand Prix.

In what could have had potentially huge repercussions for the Australian’s Drivers’ Championship campaign, Piastri bowed out of Qualifying without a time to his name, leaving him in the same boat as Leclerc while his damaged MCL39 was cleared.

With a shattered Piastri finally making his way back to McLaren, his teammate continued on in the fight for pole as he led the queue out of the pitlane when the session resumed for a one-lap shootout.

With just under four minutes on the clock, Norris launched around the 6km circuit, however, the rain was coming down heavier, and as a result, the Brit wasn’t making an impact on the timesheets.

Crossing the line, Norris was six-tenths down on Sainz, with Russell, Antonelli, and Tsunoda putting further distance between the former teammates.

Lawson’s initial time saw him falling to the bottom of the pack, however, as one of the rare drivers to make bounds on his final run, the Kiwi brilliantly jumped into second place, one-tenth behind the Spaniard with a time of 1:41.707s.

Sainz and Lawson’s standout results were knocked down a peg by the flying Dutchman’s brave run, with Verstappen the only driver to drastically improve in the uncharted conditions as he set purple pace through the first sector.

Crossing the line after two long hours of Qualifying, it was a super effort from Super Max as he secured pole position for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix with a time of 1:41.117s, five-tenths clear of two of his former teammates in P2 and P3.

Lawson will share a career-best second row start alongside Antonelli, with the Mercedes rookie out-qualifying Russell by almost four-tenths.

The second-running Mercedes will share the third row with the second-running Red Bull of Yuki Tsunoda, with Norris unable to capitalise on his teammate’s error after booking himself a P7 start for tomorrow’s main event.

Isack Hadjar will start the Azerbaijan Grand Prix from eighth on the grid, with the two drivers looking to redeem themselves across tomorrow’s 51-lap race starting in the Frenchman’s mirrors.

If Saturday’s record-breaking Qualifying session was any indication, the Azerbaijan Grand Prix promises fireworks when the mixed-up grid barrels into Turn 1 at 21:00 AEST on Sunday.

Image: Steven Tee/LAT Images // Getty Images / Red Bull Content Pool.

Azerbaijan GP Qualifying Results:

2025 Azerbaijan Grand Prix Weekend Schedule (AEST):

Friday, September 19th:

FP1: 18:30 – 19:30

FP2: 22:00 – 23:00

Saturday, September 20th:

FP3: 18:30 – 19:30

Qualifying: 22:00 – 23:00

Sunday, September 21st:

Race: 21:00

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