Baku Quali : 4 Red Flags, Charles on Pole
In an accident marred Quali session, Charles LeClerc emerged as an unlikely Pole Sitter at Baku with Lewis second and Max third.
Four red flags in a single Quali session ensured that there was chaos all around and nobody knew what to expect as the pecking order.
Baku always creates drama and this session was no exception. In the end Charles LeClerc got a massive tow from Hamilton which propelled him to the top. There were others doing better sector times but the Q3 session came to an abrupt halt with Tsunoda crashing and that caused Sainz to crash too.
Struggling Mercedes, but Lewis pulled it off
Mercedes struggled in all the practice sessions and they were all over the place. Lewis and Valtteri surprisingly decided to go for different wings, Lewis choosing the low drag one which ultimately turned out to be the right choice. He got a nice tow from Valtteri and managed to put his car on P2. Valtteri was not so fortunate, and he had a high-drag wing too, ending up P10.
Red Bull unlucky but they have a strong car
Both the Red Bull cars showed good pace in all the practice sessions. However they got all bit unlucky with all the red flags. Max clearly looking unhappy with the Qualifying session will start P3 and Checo will start P6
Pierre Gasly looked in top form all through the practice sessions. In Q3 he was even topping the sectors and ended up at P4, matching his best qualifying position. His team-mate Yuki Tsunoda had a very good quali session too and will be starting P7, although he had a bad crash at turn 15 which ended the Q3 session.
Sainz was doing well in Ferrari but ended up crashing, trying to avoid the Alpha Tauri of Yuki which was in the barriers. He will be starting P5. Ferrari had good quali pace but they struggled with the race pace in P2 session, so it will be interesting to see how Charles and Carlos fair from their respective positions in the Baku race.
McLaren boys did not have a good session. Danny Ric has been struggling in the new McLaren and he ended crashing into the barriers in Q2 session. Lando was doing well but he got a 3 place penalty due to red flag violations.
Alonso did well getting his car in Q3, although it can be attributed a lot to the various red flags. Seb narrowly missed getting in Q3 due to the red flags. He will have the tyre option as he will be starting from P11.
Mr. Saturday George Russell, true to his reputation pushed hard enough to get into Q2 but couldn’t push any further.
In Q1 session there were two red flags one caused by Lance Stroll and the other by Antonio Giovinazzi. They will be starting from the back of the grid.
Final Baku Quali Classfication with Charles on Pole
