As suggested in first practice session, we saw very interesting qualifying and a close battle between Charles Leclerc and the Red Bull drivers. Carlos Sainz Jr. he was not up to his task and could not join the fight.
After the first fast laps in Q3, Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc had the same time! But in the second attempt, Leclerc managed to extract the last atoms from his Ferrari to start the sunday race from the first position.
Lewis Hamilton is fifth and Fernando Alonso sixth. At Aston Martin, again, they had problems with the DRS system, so there is room for improvement by the end of the weekend.
The most pleasant surprise was the McLaren drivers, Lando Norris qualified in sixth position and Oscar Piastri in tenth, while George Russell surprized unpleasantly, failing to qualify for Q3.
The next session in Baku will also be qualifying, on Saturday morning, 10:30 CET/MK, during the Sprint Shootout, the drivers will determine the starting grid for Saturday's sprint. In Baku, we follow the first sprint weekend, which is held according to the new format, with two independent qualifying sessions.
This morning, Pierre Gasly's car caught fire due to a hydraulic system leak. His mechanics had to replace the gearbox and Renault PU, but with hard work they managed to get the car ready in time for the start of qualifying.
For the first time this season, Pirelli brought the softest compounds, C3, C4 and C5 in the role of white, yellow and red tires.
Verstappen had to pit to replace the headrest, which somehow managed to break, the stewards looked into this case, but everything went without sanctions for the Dutchman. The headrest was well attached, but it broke while driving.
With 12 minutes to go, the session was interrupted by red flags, after the mistake of Nyck de Vries, who was unable to take the third corner and crashed into the protective barriers.
The Dutchman was unhurt, but the car could not be removed quickly as it got stuck in the TecPro barriers. In addition to the repairs, the pause lasted about 16 minutes.
Just as the action resumed, after a few minutes, the red flags were waved again, when Pierre Gasly locked his wheels under braking and crashed into the protective barriers at the same third corner.
This time the stopage was a little shorter. Kevin Magnussen's race engineer told him over the team radio that he had to return to the pits due to problems with the Ferrari PE. The Dane finished qualifying ahead of schedule.
Esteban Ocon and Lewis Hamilton both had light contact with the protective barriers with their rear wheel but continued on. Charles Leclerc was the fastest, while Guanyu, Hulkenberg, Magnussen, Gasly and de Vries dropped out of the fight.
After the first fast laps, Perez had the fastest time, but in the second, first Leclerc was faster, and finally Verstappen was at the top of the table.
George Russell, Ocon, Albon, Bottas and Sargent did not make the final qualifying segment. Mercedes AMG was the third fastest team with Mercedes engines.
In the second fast laps, the Monegasque improved by two tenths which was enough for pole position as the Red Bull drivers recorded worse times.
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