Charles Leclerc took a stunning pole position for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix as Lando Norris suffered a huge blow to his title bid after he was eliminated in Q1.
Norris is set to start Sunday’s race down in 17th after he appeared to be hindered by yellow flags, so backed off after running wide and was knocked out in the first stage of qualifying.
The only saving grace is championship leader Max Verstappen could only qualify sixth as he was out-qualified by Red Bull team-mate Sergio Perez for the first time in 16 months in a dramatic qualifying.
At the front, Oscar Piastri was 0.321s behind Leclerc in second place, ahead of Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz in third.
Perez will start fourth in front of George Russell and Verstappen, with Lewis Hamilton in seventh after a difficult Saturday for the seven-time world champion.
Franco Colapinto reached Q3 in just his second ever F1 qualifying, with Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso in front of him and Williams team-mate Alex Albon in 10th. Albon failed to get a final lap in after Williams left a fan in his car exiting the garage.
Disaster for Norris
There was lots of confusion about the real reason as to why Norris, who is 62 points behind Verstappen in the championship, bailed out of his lap at the end of Q1.
Track evolution pushed him down the order after he was inside the top 10 following the first runs in qualifying and he soon found himself in the bottom five and needing to improve.
As Norris approached the final braking zone on the lap at Turn 16, there was a brief flashing yellow panel before clearing for white flags due to Esteban Ocon going slowly
“Everyone did their second laps and I didn’t. It was unlucky, that’s all. I had to lift,” he told Sky Sports F1.
Norris also ran wide at the exit of the corner before slowing down on the flat-out run to the line. The team immediately apologised to him on the radio but it is not clear if this was because they made a mistake by telling him to abort his lap.
“It is what it is. There’s a long race ahead, we have some good tyres in the bank, I’m still hopeful we can get a good result. I think the car is quick. Bit frustrating, but nothing I can do.”
Sky Sports F1’s live Azerbaijan GP schedule
Sunday September 15
8.30am: F2 Feature Race
10:30am: Grand Prix Sunday: Azerbaijan GP build-up*
12pm: The AZERBAIJAN GRAND PRIX*
2pm: Chequered Flag: Azerbaijan GP reaction
3pm: Ted’s Notebook
*also live on Sky Sports Main Event
Formula 1 leaves mainland Europe for Baku and the Azerbaijan Grand Prix this weekend, live on Sky Sports F1. Stream every F1 race and more with a NOW Sports Month Membership – No contract, cancel anytime