Azerbaijan Grand Prix – Qualifying: Repeated crashes! Pole position for Leclerc!

Q1

Q1 was marked by two big mistakes in the famous turn 15. This year, this turn seems to be particularly slippery and many drivers have made mistakes during the practice sessions.

Lance Stroll is the first to be caught out even though there is no time yet. He hits the tecpro wall and breaks his right front suspension. He comes to a stop with his car at the next corner, causing a red flag and the return of the drivers to the pitlane.

4 minutes later, it’s Antonio Giovinazzi who makes a mistake at the same spot. With a sharper angle, the Italian driver gets stuck in the tecpro wall and has to retire. New red flag.

With 9 minutes to go, only 10 drivers are classified. Fortunately, the end of Q1 is only marked by a yellow flag caused by Mazepin, who goes too wide at turn 1 and all the remaining drivers will have the opportunity to set a lap time.

Struggling all weekend, Hamilton manages to set the fastest time in 1:41.545, two tenths ahead of Verstappen’s Red Bull. Sergio Pérez completes the top 3 of this first part of Q1.

The eliminated: Latifi, Schumacher, Mazepin, Giovinazzi, Stroll

Q2

The drivers have 15 minutes to set the best time, but the track is rubbering in over time and cooling down. It is becoming more and more efficient. It’s 5pm in Baku and the track temperature drops from 53 degrees at midday to 44 degrees tonight. The gains per lap should not be underestimated, and one must take advantage of every second on the track as mistakes have been frequent since the weekend.

The drivers are focused and there are fewer mistakes. Most of them are going out on medium tires and lap times are dropping, especially with the Red Bulls. At the halfway point of Q2, 6 drivers were separated by only 2 tenths.

Pas de drapeaux jaunes pour l’instant mais les pilotes sont déchainés. Ocon est à deux doigts de casse sa suspension arrière en tapant le mur au virage 12. #F1 #F1live #BakuGP

— Motors Inside F1 (@MotorsInside) June 5, 2021

Concentration is therefore required in turn 15, yet it is turn 3 that will pose a danger and trigger a new red flag with 1min30s left in Q2. It is Daniel Ricciardo who navigates turn poorly and crashes into the tecpro barriers.

With less time than needed for a warm-up lap, the drivers will not be able to restart and the end of the session is announced by the officials. Disappointment for the drivers on a flying lap who were about to improve.

The eliminated: Vettel, Ocon, Ricciardo, Räikkönen, Russell.

Q3

We saw different strategies during this Q3. All drivers went out from the start to set a time except for the AlphaTauri drivers. The 8 drivers with a time then all completed a slow lap and returned to the pit except for the Mercedes drivers going for a second lap.

Leclerc sets the fastest time ahead of Hamilton and Verstappen after this first round of timed laps. Gasly sets a very nice 4th time without slipstream while the other drivers go back out to complete their warm-up lap.

It’s in this last lap, 30 seconds before the end of the session that Tsunoda, in a deceleration lap, hits turn 13. Sainz, who was behind, locks the roads to avoid him and spins in the run-off area. So it’s an early end to the session that deprives us of the battle we were expecting between the fastest drivers in this second practice session. Verstappen was notably on a very fast lap before the red flag appeared.

2021 Azerbaijan Grand Prix qualifications: