There was a high expectancy for this qualifying session. Even more, after watching the Formula 2 race this morning. Moreover, everything was very tight not only in the fight for the pole but also medium zone in which have appeared Williams and the Force India.
The track of Baku was not easy and Romain Grosjean has proved it when he had to park his car in the run off area with problems in his gearbox. Also, Hülkenberg had the same problems and the lack of information of the commissaries would have a 5 position penalty at the start. At that moment the qualifying session of the French finished.
These conditions gave hope to the rest of teams because there was one position left to cling to at the Q2. Several drivers have fought each others. As, the McLaren, the Williams, the Alfa Romeo Sauber of Charles Leclerc. A tense moment happened with the Toro of Hartley had a flat tire in his ride front wheel; he was going slow and for middle of the track in one of the straights, Gasly overtook him, avoiding him from the crash at the last moment, going out of the track but avoiding the walls. In this phase were not qualified the two Toro Rosso, Marcus Ericsson, Grosjean, and fo the first time this season the McLaren of Stoffel Vandoorne.
The mediate session had also tense moments. Red Bull, Mercedes and Ferrari have fought for doing a great lap so, they have used a super soft tire in order to qualify in a good position for the race. All of them have achieved the objective except Kimi Räikkönen who suffered a lot warming up his tires. When there were only 6 minutes left he had to return to boxes after slammed on the breaks and go out of track. The situation got worse when the commissaries had called him to the regulatory weighing system. Nevertheless the super soft were not enough to pass.
In the Q3 there were two points to take into consideration. The 3 top teams that will fight for the pole and Renault and the Force India that wanted to be the best. Everything at the top was been tight and Räikkönen had finished after the 5th drivers, all of the separated by 0.5second a difference.For third time consecutively Sebastian Vettel has been the poleman.In the deathl group , Force India has been better than Renault and will occupy the 4 line at the star.