Max Verstappen takes pole at chaotic Azerbaijan GP as Norris bottles up golden chance in qualifying

Max Verstappen delivered when it mattered the most as he took pole in a chaotic qualifying session at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix on Saturday, September 20. 

The Red Bull driver clocked a time of 1:41:117s to take his sixth pole of the season in a stop-start qualifying in Baku City. Meanwhile, McLaren’s Lando Norris bottled up a brilliant chance of making distance from his team mate and title rival Oscar Piastri after enduring a scrappy final lap in the third qualifying session. 

Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc hit the barrier at Turn 15 to bring a red flag as the session stopped with rain starting to fall. When the things resumed, championship leader Piastri crashed into Turn 3 with less than four minutes left on the clock in what was a major moment in the qualifying. 

The conditions were not optimal upon resumption, and Carlos Sainz was on provisional pole. Norris endured a scrappy lap under challenging conditions as he failed to take the pole and took only seventh. He will now start the Sunday race just two places ahead of his teammate Piastri, with Leclerc on 10th.

Sainz will be sharing the front row with the defending champion in what will be his first front row start with Williams. Liam Lawson finished third in his career-best qualifying with Racing Bulls ahead of the Mercedes duo of Kimi Antonelli and George Russell. 

Yuki Tsunoda in the other Red Bull took sixth, ahead of Norris, with Isack Hadjar sandwiched eighth between the two McLarens. “A long Qualifying to be honest with so many red flags. Hard to get your tyres in condition with so many stoppages. On the last lap, you just have to send it. I wasn’t even on the best tyres with the red flags; you run out of tyres,” Pole sitter Verstappen said after the qualifying.

“We definitely were in there for pole, but I’m just happy since Monza we are doing a better job,” he added.