Full results from qualifying for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix at the Baku City Circuit, round four of the 2019 Formula 1 season.<doc-sep>In keeping with the theme of the 2019 Formula 1 season thus far, Mercedes once again capitalised on Ferrari’s slip-up in qualifying for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix on Saturday to snatch away an unlikely front row lock-out. Just moments before the start of Q1, team boss Toto Wolff told Sky Sports F1 that Ferrari had looked “almost untouchable” in practice, and that Mercedes would not be able to grab pole unless it found a “silver bullet”. And while Mercedes’ cause was certainly aided by Ferrari’s own struggles, the team nevertheless sprung a big surprise to deal another blow to its chief rival’s early-season hopes. Charles Leclerc was the man to beat heading into qualifying after his dominant display through practice, culminating in an FP3 lap that saw him pull out over 1.4 seconds on the Mercedes drivers. While Mercedes still had time in hand – the team does not run its engine in high power modes like Ferrari does in practice – to recover such a large gap seemed unlikely. The disjointed nature of qualifying in Baku wouldn’t have eased the pressure on Ferrari. Robert Kubica’s Q1 crash delayed proceedings by half an hour, meaning the track was a touch cooler than usual for the beginning of Q2. Ferrari’s confidence was such that it sent both Leclerc and Sebastian Vettel out on Medium compound tyres, expecting their pace to be enough to get through to the final stage of qualifying without using the Softs. While Leclerc’s lap was good enough to get into Q3 – even if he couldn’t participate – Vettel made a big error on his lap, leaving him P11 after the first set of runs. After turning his car in at Turn 8, the rear of the Ferrari SF90 jutted out to the right, almost glancing the wall. Vettel caught the snap and kept himself out of trouble, but it will have done little to allay the pressure on the Ferrari pit wall. But worse was to come. Leclerc’s first lap slotted him into fifth, but the Monegasque felt there was more time to be gained and, after one cool-down lap, opted for a second push on his set of Mediums. Coming into Turn 8, Leclerc misjudged his braking point, causing him to lock up, run past the apex and instead bury his car into the wall. “I’m so stupid,” Leclerc said in a calm-yet-biting self-criticism that we have heard numerous times in the past. He managed to hop out of the car unharmed, but he was quick to raise his hands to his head as he contemplated the cost of his error. “I deserve what happened today,” Leclerc said in the TV pen after the session. “I am very, very sad for what happened, but I deserve it. I’ve been stupid, as I said on the radio. I’ve calmed down but I still think I am stupid, that does not change. “I don’t want to say anything stupid, but I think after looking at FP1, FP2 and FP3, and Q1, pole was possible today, but I threw all the potential in the bin.” Explaining the crash, Leclerc said: “I just braked as much as I did on the Soft, but I was on the Medium, and I locked up. I don’t want any misunderstandings - there are no problems with the tyres. It is just myself.” It was a refreshing dose of honesty from the young man, but he must be careful not to get into a slippery slope – one trodden by Valtteri Bottas last year – of taking too much blame upon his shoulders. With Leclerc out of the picture, the job of sparing Ferrari’s blushes lay with Sebastian Vettel. The team fitted him with a set of Softs to get through to Q3 without any concerns, but with more time wasted and the track cooling further, things were slipping away from Ferrari. Vettel split the Mercedes drivers after his opening Q3 run, with Max Verstappen also laying ahead after deciding to go for one long run on his Soft tyres instead of pitting and taking a fresh set. Vettel was one of the first out of the pits to begin his final run, and quickly made his way to the front of the pack, wary of any potential incidents ahead that could result in yellow flags and deny him a final flying lap, or of the clock counting down as it did in China two weeks ago. Mercedes took a completely different approach. Hamilton and Bottas were early out of the pits, but pulled to the side of the track at pit exit so they could complete practice starts. This filtered them towards the rear of the pack, thus carrying a high amount of risk. If any of the cars ahead made a mistake, the chances were neither Mercedes would get a second lap in. Hamilton aired his concerns over the team radio as he came through the tight second sector, but both he and Bottas slowed to find some extra space before putting the power down out of Turn 16. There may have been a number of cars ahead, but this meant they had punched a nice hole into the air that allowed both Mercedes to get a tow. Bottas found the sweet spot behind McLaren’s Lando Norris, staying back enough to avoid losing downforce through the twisting middle sector, but still within proximity to pick up a slipstream for the final run to the line. While Vettel had the security of knowing he would get his lap in, the lack of cars ahead meant he had no tow, costing him precious time against the Mercedes. The tactic came off perfectly for Bottas as he managed to leapfrog not only Verstappen and Vettel, but also Hamilton, who lost two-tenths in the first sector that meant going purple in S2 and S3 wasn’t good enough for pole. For the second race running, P1 belonged to Bottas, who could not hide a smirk of disbelief upon hopping out of his car. It was an unlikely success – something Mercedes is growing a habit for this year.<doc-sep>Baku Qualifying: Bottas stumps them all Mercedes driver Valtteri Bottas claimed pole position for the 2019 Azerbaijan Grand Prix after an incident-packed and dramatic qualifying session at the Baku City Circuit with Lewis Hamilton second quickest for another Silver Arrows front row. After keeping their powder dry throughout the morning session allowing the paddock to wallow in the dream of a Ferrari lock-out for qualifying. But when the World Champs turned up the wick their ‘Wingman’ delivered to his obvious delight. Stumping them all, meaning not only his rivals, but also media, pundits, experts, armchair sages, visionaries, etc. No one predicted that and the wickedly naughty chuckle when he told he had snatched pole told the whole story. Bottas is clearly enjoying this. Earlier during Q1, Robert Kubica bent his Williams severely when he crashed through the tricky castle section. This brought out the red flag as the damaged car was recovered. About 15-minutes later when the session resumed Charles Leclerc also crashed in the exact same spot (as Kubica) after overshooting his braking point when he looked a sure bet for pole position. Thereafter the session got trickier as it went into hours in the day the drivers had not previously experienced. but Bottas rose to the occasion in the final run of Q3 – under the radar and out of the blue – he popped a superb 1:40.495 which was a tad faster than his teammate who briefly topped the timing screens. Bottas said afterwards, “It’s a nice feeling to get it on the last lap. Ferrari have been really strong. Charles was out by a mistake and as a team we did a really good job after such a difficult practice.” “It’s all about small margins and I got a good tow on the last lap. The corners I had to drive as well but it’s fine details and I hit the sweet spot.” Second-placed Hamilton added, “It’s been so close all weekend. Ferrari have looked incredibly quick and Valtteri did an exceptional job.” “This is a massively great result for us. We came here without an upgrade, the Ferraris looked particularly quick and also Max – for us to lock out the front row in the circumstances I’m really grateful for and puts us in a fighting position tomorrow.” “Pace-wise we are slightly closer in race trim than it seemed in qualifying. Valtteri is always quick here and I’ve had my work cut out this weekend,” added Hamilton. For Ferrari it was bitter disappointment, fooled to believe they had a good package, when the cards were down again Mercedes trumped them in an embarrassing matter. Prior to Leclerc bending metal, pole position was already annexed but the crunch of Tecpro on carbon-fibre shocked just about everyone that witnessed the shunt. It did not get much better thereafter as Sebastian Vettel simply did not have the firepower to match the silver cars… yet again. He will start from third. Asked if Merc stole pole, Vettel said, “I don’t know if they stole it, I think they were a bit quicker than us today.” “For me it started a bit slow, towards the end it was getting better but it was quite tricky, the session was very long, the sun was going down. It was difficult to find the right balance of pushing in the out lap and playing with tow. “I had a good lap but I had no tow to close the lap and that cost a bit. I think we got sort of the maximum out but we were expecting to have a better session with Charles and myself being closer to the front.” Three-tenths of a second separated the top three. Half a second down on the top time was Max Verstappen in the Red Bull using the Spec-2 Honda engine package, which also served Daniil Kvyat well with six place in the Toro Rosso. Splitting the fizzy drinks pair on the timing screens was the pure water purveyor Sergio Perez in the Racing Point in fifth, while the son of the team’s owner failed to make it out of Q3, in which Lance Stroll was four-tenths of a second slower than his teammate. With seventh place, Lando Norris again saved face for the Renault-powered posse, using easily the worst power unit of the four marques on the grid, the rookie thumped his more experienced teammate and both of the works team veterans. Antonio Giovinazzi was all smiles when he savoured his first Q1 appearance and eighth place in the Alfa Romeo, a tenth faster than Kimi Raikkonen in the sister car who will line-up ninth on the grid. Before he crashed, Leclerc did enough to make it into Q1, and thus (if the chassis does not have to be replaced) he should start from tenth on the grid. FIA Blow-By-Blow Report In Q1, Vettel led the early exchanges, setting a time of 1:42.348. His Ferrari team-mate Charles Leclerc, who had held sway in every practice session, soon bypassed that and his lap of 1:41.426, established a tough benchmark. Verstappen, meanwhile, suffered a lock-up into Turn 7 on his opening run and his first lap left him in down in P12. On an improving track he was left vulnerable and he returned to the pit lane for a fresh set of tyres and prepared for another attempt. Hamilton was also having difficulty finding the sweet spot with tyres and after overcooking his entry to Turn 3 he was forced to take the escape road. He too would require more laps to make his way through to Q2, but eventually climbed to third place above Verstappen. Gasly then provided proof of the rapid track evolution. The Frenchman who is facing a pit lane starting after being penalised for a missing a call to the weighbridge in FP2, set the quickest first sector on his second run. Then, benefiting from a tow provided by Stroll, he crossed the line in just 1:41.335 to claim a top spot he held until the chequered flag.<doc-sep>Clive Mason/Getty Images Ferrari posted the two quickest times in the second free practice on an eventful but limited day of practice sessions at the 2019 Azerbaijan Formula One grand prix in Baku. Charles Leclerc registered a quicker time than team-mate Sebastian Vettel. Meanwhile, Lewis Hamilton was third-fastest with a personal-best time on this circuit. Red Bull Racing's Max Verstappen split the Mercedes drivers, posting a time faster than Valtteri Bottas. The first practice session was stopped prematurely due to a dislodged manhole cover that damaged the Williams vehicle of George Russell, per James Galloway of Sky Sports F1. Leclerc wasn't going to be deterred in his bid to post the quickest laps, not even after he collided with the wall: The Monaco native was firing a warning to Mercedes about his team's capability to close the gap in the standings come race day. While Bottas was struggling to answer the challenge, Hamilton was at least doing his best to produce laps closer to Leclerc's speed: It wasn't all about Mercedes and Ferrari, though. Red Bull was managing a creditable showing, thanks largely to the efforts of Verstappen, who made the most of a smart tyre change: Video Play Button Videos you might like There was an interruption when Racing Point's Lance Stroll went into the barriers early on. After the events of the abbreviated FP1, red flags were becoming a familiar sight. After yet another red flag after Toro Rosso's Daniil Kvyat went into the barriers at Turn 7, Ferrari took the chance to get back on track first. Leclerc and Vettel went in pursuit of longer runs, opting for controlled driving, rather than choosing to put their cars through their paces. Leclerc was on the softs, but the choice didn't make much difference in terms of speed over Hamilton. The defending champion was travelling swiftly enough on the mediums. There was a late clash between Hamilton and Kevin Magnussen as the session drew to a close. The Haas driver appeared to cut across Hamilton, resulting in the front wing of the Mercedes car being clipped. While it wasn't a major incident, the slight coming together seemed like a fitting way to end a day littered with red flags and undone by an on-track hazard.<doc-sep>
Valtteri Bottas claimed pole position for Formula 1’s Azerbaijan Grand Prix during an incident-filled qualifying session that was heavily disrupted as Charles Leclerc crashed out. Despite appearing well off the pace of Ferrari all weekend, the Mercedes duo took advantage of Leclerc’s error in Q2 to lock-out the front-row of the grid in Baku, with Bottas edging Hamilton by just 0.059s in what was a thrilling end to qualifying. Hamilton had sat on provisional pole following the opening salvo of runs, but Bottas left it late to turn in a 1m40.495s on his final flying effort to pip his teammate to a second consecutive pole. Sebastian Vettel was unable to challenge as he ended up third and 0.302s off the pace in what turned out to be a disappointing qualifying session for the Scuderia, with Leclerc blowing a great opportunity to claim pole with his shunt. Max Verstappen sealed an encouraging fourth on the grid for Red Bull-Honda, while Sergio Perez and Daniil Kvyat starred to take fifth and sixth respectfully for Racing Point and Toro Rosso. McLaren’s Lando Norris was two tenths back in seventh, ahead of Antonio Giovinazzi, who out-qualified Alfa Romeo teammate Kimi Raikkonen in his first-ever Q3 appearance. Despite setting the eighth-best time, the Italian is set to drop 10 places for taking on new power unit components. Despite a costly error that saw him crash out in Q2, Leclerc is set to start inside the top ten on the grid. The Monegasque driver, who had dominated for much of the weekend, slammed into the barriers at Turn 8 and caused a second red flag period of qualifying. “I am stupid,” was the critical self-assessment from Leclerc over team radio, who cut a visibly frustrated figure as he emerged from the cockpit of his wrecked SF90 and upon his return to the Ferrari garage. Behind Leclerc came McLaren’s Carlos Sainz and the Renault of Daniel Ricciardo in 11th and 12th respectively, as Alexander Albon took 13th ahead of Kevin Magnussen despite clouting the walls on his final run. Pierre Gasly did not venture out during an interrupted Q2 in a bid to save tyres with the Frenchman set for a pitlane start after picking up a penalty for missing the weighbridge during Friday practice. Racing Point’s Lance Stroll, who has so far failed to progress from Q1 this season, one again dropped out in the first part of qualifying and ended up 16th. Romain Grosjean conceded he had “no pace” as he struggled to 17th in his Haas, while Nico Hulkenberg was the slowest driver barring the Williams duo as the German proved to be the biggest scalp of Q1. The Renault driver had to abort his first qualifying run when he came across yellow flags following a lock-up for Hamilton, before making a costly error on his final flying effort, leaving him with a time only good enough for 18th. Despite completing the fewest amount of laps of any driver after being forced to sit out of second practice following his drain-cover-induced incident in FP1, George Russell recovered to convincingly outpace Williams teammate Robert Kubica, who brought out a late red flag with a heavy crash at the end of Q1. Kubica clipped the inside wall at Turn 8 and rebounded into the barriers on the outside of the corner at the bottom of the castle section of the circuit, bringing the session to a premature conclusion. The accident - which delayed the start of Q2 by 15 minutes while barrier repairs were carried out - destroyed the front-end of Kubica’s FW42, adding to Williams’ lengthy list of problems in what has turned into a nightmare weekend for the beleaguered outfit.