F1 Azerbaijan GP LIVE: Qualifying times and results as Lando Norris eliminated in disaster for McLaren
Norris eliminated in Q1 in huge blow to his championship chances ahead of Sunday’s race in Baku
Lando Norris’ title hopes were dealt a huge blow after he suffered a shock elimination from the first part of qualifying as Charles Leclerc took pole position at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix for the fourth year in a row.
The British driver arrived in the Land of Fire bidding to turn up the heat on championship leader Max Verstappen, having taken 16 points out of the three-time world champion’s title lead across the last two races.
But the 24-year-old said he was caught out by yellow flags down the long final straight, backing off and unable to improve his time, meaning he will start Sunday’s race from 17th on the grid.
Verstappen, who leads the drivers’ championship by 62 points with eight races remaining, was not imperious, managing only sixth on the grid as Norris’ team-mate Oscar Piastri claimed second ahead of Carlos Sainz and the second Red Bull of Sergio Perez.
Follow live updates from the Azerbaijan Grand Prix with The Independent
F1 Azerbaijan Grand Prix LIVE: Charles Leclerc on pole in Baku!
Leclerc goes quicker and takes pole by three-tenths!
Oscar Piastri nips in to get P2 for McLaren, with Carlos Sainz in third.
Max Verstappen all the way down in sixth!
4-10: Perez, Russell, Verstappen, Hamilton, Alonso, Colapinto, Albon
Leclerc: “Let’s gooooo! Yes, nice. Good job boys.”
That’s four pole positions in a row in Baku for Leclerc...
Lando Norris not expecting ‘magical’ Azerbaijan GP result after dismal qualifying
Lando Norris does not expect a “magical” Azerbaijan Grand Prix result after the McLaren driver qualified 17th in a major blow to his title hopes.
The 24-year-old was caught out by yellow flags down the long final straight, backing off and being unable to improve his time, meaning he was knocked out of Q1.
Norris arrived in the Land of Fire bidding to turn up the heat on championship leader Max Verstappen, having taken 16 points out of the three-time world champion’s title lead across the last two races.
Lando Norris not expecting ‘magical’ Azerbaijan GP result after dismal qualifying
Norris saw his title hopes suffer a blow in Baku and he will start 11 places behind Max Verstappen
F1 Azerbaijan Grand Prix LIVE: Lewis Hamilton not happy after qualifying today
“Same Saturday as always. Same thing as every Saturday. Yesterday the car was amazing, felt great. Could have been second row today. But today, the tyres didn’t work all day.”
F1 Azerbaijan Grand Prix LIVE: Max Verstappen after qualifying P6...
“We made some changes into qualifying which made it harder to drive. We tried to find solutions throughout qualifying but in turn 16, the car became very loose in the corner.
“Ferrari are always quick around here, the last three years they took pole. Ferrari and Charles are very strong. From our side, today we didn’t optimise it. Unfortunately it went the other way.”
Lando Norris’ F1 title hopes hit in Azerbaijan after disastrous qualifying
Qualifying report
Lando Norris’ title hopes were dealt a huge blow after he suffered a shock elimination from the first part of qualifying as Charles Leclerc took pole position at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix for the fourth year in a row.
The British driver arrived in the Land of Fire bidding to turn up the heat on championship leader Max Verstappen, having taken 16 points out of the three-time world champion’s title lead across the last two races.
But the 24-year-old said he was caught out by yellow flags down the long final straight, backing off and unable to improve his time, meaning he will start Sunday’s race from 17th on the grid.
Lando Norris’ F1 title hopes hit in Azerbaijan after disastrous qualifying
Norris was caught out by a mistimed yellow flag as Charles Leclerc took pole position in Baku
F1 grid: Azerbaijan Grand Prix
1. Charles Leclerc
2. Oscar Piastri
3. Carlos Sainz
4. Sergio Perez
5. George Russell
6. Max Verstappen
7. Lewis Hamilton
8. Fernando Alonso
9. Franco Colapinto
10. Alex Albon
11. Ollie Bearman
12. Yuki Tsunoda
13. Pierre Gasly
14. Nico Hulkenberg
15. Lance Stroll
16. Daniel Ricciardo
17. Lando Norris
18. Valtteri Bottas
19. Esteban Ocon
20. Zhou Guanyu*
*Zhou drops to the back of the grid after power unit changes between practice sessions
F1 Azerbaijan Grand Prix LIVE: Perez P4, Verstappen P6
That’s the first time this season that Max Verstappen has been out-qualified by his team-mate!
F1 Azerbaijan Grand Prix LIVE: McLaren team principal Andrea Stella on Lando Norris’ elimination
“We will try and do our best to get back in the points. We were discussing with the FIA why a yellow flag was displayed which was extremely costly in the economy of this weekend. we will try and recover tomorrow.
“The team didn’t say it [the yellow flag] because it was last minute, it was displayed as a yellow. It isn’t necessary when there was a slow car, off-line. This time there was a situation which ideally by the regulations shouldn’t have happened.
“We pay the price, we don’t give up, we move on and we’ll do our best tomorrow to get some good points.”
F1 Azerbaijan Grand Prix LIVE: Charles Leclerc’s reaction to pole!
F1 Azerbaijan Grand Prix LIVE: Here’s Leclerc’s pole-sealing moment...
He loves it around here!
Subscribe to Independent Premium to bookmark this article
Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Start your Independent Premium subscription today.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments