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>Qualifying was delayed by 30 minutes due to track inspections prompted by incidents in F1's FP1, but the F2 session concluded without any problems with the circuit. It was however red-flagged early on just as drivers started to set their first fast laps when Sean Gelael's Prema car stopped exiting Turn 7, before it was restarted with the help of track workers. The first competitive times were set by Jordan King and Nyck de Vries after the session resumed, but championship leader Luca Ghiotto narrowly beat the Dutchman to lead after the first runs. The field timed their second runs for the final two minutes of the session, and Ghiotto's time was quickly beaten, first by de Vries and then by Matsushita. Carlin driver Matsushita's 1m54.555s gave him pole position, his second one in the F1 feeder series after taking his first at Monza in 2017. ART's de Vries beat Ghiotto (UNI-Virtuosi) to second by 0.038s as a large gap separated the top three from the rest, with Sergio Sette Camara (DAMS) fourth but more than a second off pole. He beat early pace-setter King (MP Motorsport) by 0.027s while Prema driver Mick Schumacher secured sixth. Nicholas Latifi (DAMS) and Jack Aitken (Campos) will share the fourth row on the grid ahead of Anthoine Hubert (Arden), who came close to crashing at Turn 16, and Ralph Boschung (Trident). Ferrari protege Callum Ilott had a spin during qualifying but managed to salvage 11th for the Charouz-run Sauber Junior team. While Gelael's car was restarted after his early troubles and went into the pits, he did not rejoin the track and ended the session without a laptime. He could still get an additional penalty as he is under investigation for "actions regarding the red flag". Qualifying results<doc-sep>Mercedes pair Valtteri Bottas and Lewis Hamilton have already built up a commanding championship lead and on Saturday, they finished one-two in qualifying for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. "It was a nice feeling getting it done on the last lap,” said Bottas, after the eighth pole position of his career and second in a row. "I managed to hit the sweet spot," added the 29-year-old Finn. Frenchman Charles Leclerc looked to be Ferrari's best hope for pole, but crashed out in the second round of qualifying, meaning he will start Sunday's race in ninth. The 21-year-old didn't hide his frustration. "I am stupid, I am stupid, I am stupid," he said over team radio, later adding on Twitter: "No excuses. I've been useless." Despite starting so far back, the Ferrari driver could still compete for a podium position, a point not overlooked by Lewis Hamilton. "It has been close this weekend. Ferrari looked good and Valtteri did an exceptional job," the reigning champion said. The qualifying session took far longer than normal due to a number of drivers struggling with the challenging Baku street circuit. Robert Kubica crashed into the same wall as Leclerc.<doc-sep>
Mark Thompson/Getty Images Valtteri Bottas will start the 2019 Azerbaijan Formula One Grand Prix from pole position on Sunday after beating Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton to top spot in a dramatic qualifying session. Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel took third place behind the two Silver Arrows, but team-mate Charles Leclerc will start down in 10th place after crashing in Q2. Red Bull Racing's Max Verstappen will start alongside Vettel in fourth, while Racing Point's Sergio Perez will start from an impressive fifth place on the grid. Here are the results from qualifying: Ferrari dominated the practice sessions and did the same early during the first qualifying session, as Leclerc became the first driver to duck underneath the one-minute, 42-second mark. Mercedes took some time finding their footing but eventually improved, bridging the gap there had been during practice. Red Bull also found some pace late in the session, with Pierre Gasly knocking the Monegasque out of the top spot. The Frenchman knew his eventual finishing position in qualifying wouldn't mean much, as he'll start from the pit lane: Video Play Button Videos you might like Renault struggled in FP2 and didn't have a great outing in FP3, either, and their start to qualifying was hardly ideal. Minutes into the first session, Daniel Ricciardo was told the team had no data, leaving him without crucial info on a busy track: The Australian eventually worked himself out of the drop zone after a difficult session, shortly before Williams' Robert Kubica shunted, bringing out the red flag. Nico Hulkenberg and Romain Grosjean were among the drivers to miss out on Q2. The shunt was a big one: Drivers were forced to wait while the track was cleared, adding an extra element of strategy. As the temperature dropped, Ferrari took a risk by opting for medium tyres, while everyone else ventured out on the soft compound. Leclerc's first time was reasonably close to that of the Silver Arrows, but Vettel was well off the pace. Once Perez went faster than the younger Ferrari driver, it became clear the Scuderia had made a tactical error. But things got much worse for the team shortly after. Leclerc, who had been the fastest man on track for most of the weekend, hit the wall in the same spot Kubica did, ending his session. The 21-year-old was furious with himself: The crash brought out another red flag and another delay. Liquid coming from the car made things more difficult for the marshals, and the lengthy break meant the end of the session would take place in the fading light. The session eventually restarted with Carlos Sainz, Ricciardo, Alexander Albon, Kevin Magnussen and Gasly all missing out on Q3. Ricciardo will start down in 12th place in the Renault: The final session saw Verstappen, Hamilton, Bottas and Vettel all vying for pole position in a dramatic finish. Bottas was the man to come up with the goods, setting a new track record of 1:40.495 to secure top spot ahead of Hamilton and secure an all Mercedes front row.