A stop/start F1 Azerbaijan GP qualifying had a surprise result with Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas beating Lewis Hamilton to take pole as Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel was only third.
Q1:
As expected, it was a cray start to F1 Azerbaijan GP qualifying at Baku Street Circuit with many drivers having to do multiple runs to make it into Q2 due to the track evolution. The qualifying was red flagged after the session ended after a crash for Williams’ Robert Kubica.
The Pole was on a flying lap when he clipped the right-hand barrier at Turn 8 which broke the suspension as he flew straight into another barrier in front. It is to be another late work for Williams to get the car sorted at a time when they are struggling for parts.
At the front though, it was Red Bull Racing’s Pierre Gasly topping Q1 with Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc in second and Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton third. Meanwhile, it wasn’t a jolly time for Renault’s Nico Hulkenberg (1m43.427s) and Haas’ Romain Grosjean (1m43.407s).
Both were knocked out with the German in 18th behind the Frenchman while Racing’s Lance Stroll (1m42.630s) led the Q1 exit pack in 16th. The Canadian had a brush with the wall earlier in the session which had minor damage to his car.
The back of the grid was completed by Williams’ George Russell (1m45.062s) and Kubica (1m45.455s) in 19th and 20th respectively, but they will start at least one place up due to Gasly’s pitlane start penalty.
Q2:
After a lengthy delay due to the red flag to repair the barriers, the second part of qualifying started with Ferrari taking a gamble with the medium compound for both their drivers. While Leclerc slotted in fifth, Sebastian Vettel was only 11th.
As things started to settle in but out came the red flag again with Leclerc into the tyre barrier at Turn 8 sequence, just one step ahead where Kubica crashed. The Monegasque called himself ‘stupid’ on the radio as he threw away a certain front-row start for Ferrari.
Leclerc came in too hot in the corner with a front-left lock-up and went straight into the barrier. There were more delays for the barrier to be repaired but once it re-started, it was quite a hectic run for the remaining drivers.
Red Bull decided to not run Gasly as his teammate Max Verstappen led Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas and Hamilton at the front. The remaining Ferrari of Sebastian Vettel was fourth with Leclerc classified in fifth despite having missed his final run.
While his teammate made it into the Top 10, McLaren’s Carlos Sainz (1m42.398s) missed on it with Renault Daniel Ricciardo (1m42.477s) in 12th, Toro Rosso’s Alexander Albon (1m42.494s) 13th and Haas’ Kevin Magnussen (1m42.699s) 14th.
Q3:
The drivers took their time to venture out but once they did, it was Hamilton taking provisional pole with a 1m40.703s lap as Verstappen slotted in second after completing multiple laps in his run and Vettel in third.
The scene changed on their second runs with Bottas going all out to take pole in F1 Azerbaijan GP – his second of the 2019 season – after clocking a 1m40.495s to beat Hamilton (1m40.554s) by 0.059s in a solid finish.
After looking ever-so dominant in the practice sessions, Vettel (1m40.797s) was only third after losing out in the third sector with Verstappen (1m41.069s) ending up fourth ahead of Racing Point’s Sergio Perez (1m41.593s), who surprised everyone with a Top 5 finish.
Having looked good all-weekend, Toro Rosso’s Daniil Kvyat (1m41.681s) slotted in sixth with McLaren’s Lando (1m41.886s) Norris finishing seventh ahead of the Alfa Romeo Racing pair of Antonio Giovinazzi (1m42.424s) and Kimi Raikkonen (1m43.068s).
It was the first Q3 appereance for Giovinazzi as he managed to beat his teammate as well but unfortunately, the Italian has a 10-place grid penalty and will start from 18th. Even though Leclerc did not run, he was 10th in the session.
UPDATE: The post-qualifying checks found Gasly guilty where it was found that the ‘fuel mass flow exceeded 100 kg/hour’ on his car when he set the pace in Q1. As a result of which, the Frenchman has been disqualified from the qualifying results.
The Red Bull driver has had a nightmare weekend so far with him already facing a pitlane start penalty after he missed the weighbridge call at the end of FP2. He had additional five-place grid penalty also apart from the above penalties.
