Azerbaijan – Qualifying: Hamilton dominates head and shoulders

The weather conditions are ideal in Baku for the qualifying session with bright sunshine and high temperatures.

Jolyon Palmer was unable to take part in this qualifying session. A victim of an engine failure in the third free practice session, the Renault mechanics could not repair the British driver’s car in time, whose future with the Diamond team remains uncertain.

Baku 🇦🇿

☀️ Air 26°C
🔥 Track 49°C#Quali #AzerbaijanGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/cgQRaKSUoK

— Formula 1 (@F1) 24 juin 2017

Hamilton above the rest in Q1

Grip is extremely delicate on the Baku urban track, where drivers struggle to warm up their front tires and wheel lock-ups become common. All drivers have opted to equip the softest red-sidewall tires provided this week by the manufacturer Pirelli.

In this first part of the qualifying, Räikkönen quickly takes the advantage over all his opponents, ahead of the two Force Indias and Max Verstappen’s Red Bull. After the first 10 minutes, the Dutch driver manages to position himself in the lead, under a minute and forty-three seconds, before being quickly overtaken by Lewis Hamilton’s Mercedes.

5 minutes before the end of Q1, Hamilton improves his previous time by recording an impressive 1:41.983 and shines like never before this Azerbaijani weekend. His runner-up Verstappen is left more than half a second behind the Silver Arrow at the end of Q1.

Romain Grosjean is one of the unfortunate eliminations from this Q1, struggling throughout the weekend with his Haas, particularly with the brakes of the American car; he couldn’t really hope for better.

BREAKING: ELIMINATED, Q1

16 ALO
17 GRO 📸
18 ERI
19 VAN
20 PAL (DNS)#Quali #AzerbaijanGP 🇦🇿 #F1 pic.twitter.com/k8x8c3bVQP

— Formula 1 (@F1) 24 juin 2017

Hamilton doesn’t let go of P1 in Q2

The gaps quickly narrowed in this second part of the qualifying session. Hamilton is still the only driver below the one minute forty-two mark, but only 4/100ths ahead of his Finnish teammate and 1/10th ahead of the provisional 3rd place Räikkönen. Things remain stable until the triple English world champion drives the point home with a lap in 1:41.275.

Felipe Massa, on his part, is pushing the limits of his driving, brushing and even hitting the walls of the treacherous Baku circuit.

Vettel, discreet throughout the weekend on the timesheet, regains the advantage over his teammate Räikkönen, finishing Q2 in 2nd position.

Valtteri Bottas manages to finally close the gap with his teammate by setting a time of 1:41.502 just before the end of Q2.

Esteban Ocon narrowly escapes elimination but ultimately secures the last qualifying spot for Q3. Note the strong performance from Williams, both cars qualifying for Q3 thanks in particular to a decisive Mercedes engine on this type of track.

The drivers eliminated in the second part of qualifying are as follows:

BREAKING: ELIMINATED, Q2

11 KVY
12 SAI 📸
13 MAG
14 HUL
15 WEH

#Quali #AzerbaijanGP 🇦🇿 #F1 pic.twitter.com/1E9mYNTqBy

— Formula 1 (@F1) 24 June 2017

Q3: Hamilton still and always in front!

The drivers all make sure to complete two installation laps to properly warm up the tires, which are so temperamental on the streets of Baku.

For their first “real” timed lap, Bottas outpaces Hamilton. Although the Englishman has the best first and second sectors, Bottas managed to make up all his time in the third part. Max Verstappen, meanwhile, manages to get the better of Räikkönen’s Ferrari, then in 4th place.

With the stopwatch showing 3 min. and 33 s. before the end of Q3, Daniel Ricciardo hits the wall after accelerating over the curb, and his Red Bull comes to a stop a few yards further on. The race management decides to apply the red flag rule to safely clear the Austrian car… While maintaining some suspense for the final attempt of the ten drivers engaged in this Q3.

🚩 RED FLAG 🚩RIC grinds to a halt after clipping wall at Turn 6 #Quali #AzerbaijanGP 🇦🇿 #F1 pic.twitter.com/h70OO11vw8

— Formula 1 (@F1) 24 juin 2017

At the green flag, the drivers rush to complete a timed lap. In the long-distance battle between the two Mercedes drivers for pole position, Hamilton ups the ante and beats the Finn by 4/10th of a second, despite his own improvement. The Brit thus records an incredible 1:40.593.

Lewis Hamilton thus secures the 66th pole position of his Formula 1 career, surpassing the 65 poles of his idol Ayrton Senna, whom he equaled just two weeks ago in Montreal. He is now only two poles away from the record holder Michael Schumacher.

Ferrari are at the very least humiliated in this Q3, unable to join the fight for pole position.

Esteban Ocon, for his part, achieved his best performance in qualifying by securing 7th place, just behind his Mexican teammate Sergio Pérez.

PROVISIONAL CLASSIFICATION (END OF #QUALI) @LewisHamilton in a class of his own today 👊 #AzerbaijanGP 🇦🇿 #F1 pic.twitter.com/IGX8Irs8zR

— Formula 1 (@F1) 24 juin 2017