Azerbaijan GP Qualifying: Verstappen prevails in Baku crashfest
F1 NewsSaturday, 20 September 2025 at 16:04
Max Verstappen took pole position for the 2025 Azerbaijan Grand Prix in what was a crashfest of a session that saw a record six Red Flag moments.
It was one of those sessions where anything could've happened and it ended up actually happening with wind, rain, drivers errors... you name it all playing a role in the final outcome that saw Verstappen grabbing his sixth pole position in the 2025 Formula 1 season.
Where to begin. It all started with Alex Albon binning his Williams in Q1 and that was the first Red Flag only for Nico Hulkenberg to bring it out again moments later.
Franco Colapinto brought out a third Red Flag after a brain fade of a crash saw him his the barriers in the dying seconds of Q1 as he was distracted by his teammate, Pierre Gasly going deep into the runoff area just in front of him.
Then in Q2, Ollie Bearman hit the wall and damaged his car, parking on track and causing a third fourth Red Flag while in Q3, big names, Charles Leclerc and Oscar Piastri were the culprits causing two Red Flags while the rain also decided to crash the party and make the lives of teams and drivers even harder as if the wind wasn't enough.
But the cream rises to the top and it was Verstappen who did the business in Q3 with less than four minutes remaining on the clock to take his first pole at Baku.
Carlos Sainz showed his experience in such conditions and put in a decent banker lap in Q3 that put him on provisional pole as the situation went pear-shaped with rain starting and Leclerc crashing.
The Racing Bulls boys, Liam Lawson and Isack Hadjar as well managed to put in bankers as well while all the remaining seven driver failed to do so.
With Leclerc's car recovered the running wasn't long enough for anyone to post lap times before Piatri's crash brought everything to a halt again.
With the final restart, drivers had enough time for just one lap and it was Verstappen who ended up breaking the hearts of Williams and their fans, denying Sainz pole by 0.478s, the Spaniard settling for second.
Lawson improved once again to take third fastest while Kimi Antonelli bounced back in style after almost being eliminated in Q1 after some bad luck and errors from his side and went fourth fastest beating his teammate, George Russell who was 0.353s behind him in fifth.
Yuki Tsunoda kept it clean and managed sixth in the sister Red Bull RB21, but was over one second slower than Verstappen's pole time.
Lando Norris did not manage to capitalize on his teammate's woes and only managed seventh fastest on a day when he could have put a dent in Piastri's title chances.
Isack Hadjar was eighth in the other Racing Bulls car on what was a good day for the Faenza squad.
Piastri, not in the zone so far this weekend, ended up being classified in ninth while Leclerc was tenth for Ferrari who are ruing a disastrous qualifying that saw Lewis Hamilton qualify 12th after a messy Q2 where the Briton was first compromised by a Yellow Flag caused by Leclerc.
Ferrari then kept him on a single set of Softs which meant he could not improve while he also is responsible for messing out one of his Q2 laps.
What the top three said
Speaking after qualifying, where he bagged his 46th F1 career pole position, Verstappen said: "Long qualifying with so many red flags.
"It was very difficult to get your lap together because most of the time your tyres were not really ready, or a red flag happened.
"Especially Q3, with also a bit of rain around, it was a very difficult session. In the final lap, you just have to send it. I wasn’t even on the best tyres that I wanted, because of all the red flags you basically run out of tyres.
"I’m very happy with how the weekend has gone so far. From FP1, we were not too bad and we just kept on improving a tiny amount, and then we were there in qualifying, which is of course when it matters.
"I think we definitely were in there for pole (regardless of the weather)," the Dutchman claimed. "Of course, Q3 is always a bit messy for everyone.
"I’m just happy, it seems like since Monza we are doing a better job and I hope that we can continue in that way."
As for his chances in the race, the four-time F1 Champion said: "[It's a] long race. You want to have a good start, but even then, we just need to do our own race, look after our tyres because it’s tough on the tyres here with the softer compounds, and then we’ll see what happens."
"Very happy. Honestly, we have nailed the qualifying today," an elated Sainz added. "Every time being on the right tyre on the right time and putting together some very strong laps.
"Obviously the moment a top car was going to put a lap together we were always going to be those four-five tenths behind like we are always, but it was only one of them - Max, not surprised.
"For the rest we managed to beat them and are in P2, which is great news," he pointed out.
As for his race objectives, the Spaniard added: "The plan for tomorrow is try and stick it on the podium, I'm going to give my best to give Williams a first podium. If it's possible, great, if it's not, we will see."
The Lawson had his say; he commented: "Honestly, I can’t even remember what happened, it was so busy. I said it would be, but I didn’t expect it to be like that.
“The car’s been good all weekend, and when it needed to be in qualy it was good, so a massive thanks to the guys and girls, the team’s been amazing this weekend so far, but obviously tomorrow is the important day.
“It’s always sketchy," the Kiwi went on, "because you see the rain on your visor and you can feel it and you can see the gloss on the track, but because the tyres are still warm, you have grip. So, you’re trying to fight your brain and not back off and keep pushing, but it’s definitely tricky.
“It’s going to be a very hard race. We have a great starting position but we’re aware of who we’re fighting, and that’s what we’ll be focused on," Lawson concluded.
Q1: Albon crashes, Red Flags aplenty
The wind remained over the Baku City Circuit with partly cloudy conditions as track temperatures were 27 degrees Celsius, a huge drop compared to the final practice while air temperature at 21 degrees with 20% chance of rain.
The cars lined up in the pitlane waiting for that green light to go an at its exit. A Williams, two Saubers, two Haas cars leading the way as the big players soon followed out.
Albon was the first driver to start a timed lap and naturally went fastest as other drivers started their flying laps. Then Hulkenberg went second fastest with Gabriel Bortoleto dropping him to third.
The German had a close moment with the barriers at Turn 15 but got away with it as Sainz went to the top only for Lawson to drop him to second.
But then Ferrari started their runs with Leclerc followed by Hamilton on Softs. Norris and Verstappen followed on Mediums.
Leclerc went fastest while Hamilton went fourth. Norris went second behind Leclerc while Verstappen then took the second position from the Briton.
After that, with 11 minutes remaining, Albon tapped the wall at the apex of Turn 1 breaking his front right suspension and bringing out the Red Flag.
Order at that point: Leclerc - Verstappen - Norris - Lawson - Sainz - Russell - Hamilton - Tsunoda - Fernando Alonso - Bearman - Hadjar - Esteban Ocon - Lance Stroll - Gasly - Albon - Bortoleto - Colapinto - Hulkenberg.
Piastri and Antonelli did not set a timed lap before Albon's crash.
The session was restarted with Piastri and Antonelli under pressure to put some bankers in as the pitlane once again saw cars lined up ready to go again.
Antonelli was noted for a Yellow Flag infringement. Replay showed that he didn't slow down and he said he didn't see it when his engineer told him to slow down.
Most of the drivers opted for the Medium compound as the post-Red Flag runs began which gave them the chance for a couple of flags.
But then the Red Flag was out again and it was caused by Hulkenberg who crashed after hesitating into Turn 4. He managed to head out again but his front wing remained on track which prompted the stoppage.
Order at that moment was: Hamilton - Piastri - Leclerc - Verstappen - Tsunoda - Norris - Lawson - Sainz - Russell - Colapinto - Alonso - Bearman - Gasly - Hadjar - Ocon.
In the drop zone: Stroll - Albon - Bortoleto - Hulkenberg - Antonelli.
Antonelli still did not have a timed lap in as he missed the corner at Turn 16 on his first flying lap after he understeered and his lap was deleted.
He told his team he didn't have any brakes while his engineer informed him that he was slapped by a gust of tail wind.
The session was restarted with six and a half minutes on the clock. Antonelli was under more pressure with Toto Wolff coming on the radio asking him to deliver one clean lap telling him he had enough time.
In the end, Norris was fastest with a 1:41.322 with Verstappen just 0.009s behind him in second on Mediums while Leclerc was third.
The rest of the top 15: Russell - Hadjar - Hamilton - Piastri - Stroll - Alonso - Antonelli - Lawson - Tsunoda - Bortoleto - Sainz - Bearman.
Out of qualifying drivers were led by Colapinto who was 16th ahead of Hulkenberg in 17th as Ocon, Gasly and Albon were 18th, 19th, and 20th respectively.
In the final seconds of Q1, the Red Flag came out for a third time as Gasly ended up in the runoff area at Turn 4 but his teammate Colapinto who was behind him seemed to be distracted and ended up in the barriers at the same corner.
The look of Flavio Briatore's face was priceless!
Q2: Hamilton out!
Sainz led the remaining 15 drivers out of the pitlane as the green light for Q2 was illuminated and soon Hadjar found himself in the runoff area at Turn 4 and had to reverse back on the track.
All the drivers were on the Softs except for Sainz, Bearman, and Alonso who went out on the Mediums. Russell and Antonelli remained in their pits.
And just before any driver could post a time, the Red Flag came out again as Bearman parked his car on the side of the track.
Replay showed that his car snapped in Turn 2 and tapped the barriers which was enough to break his car.
The session was restarted with less than 12 minutes remaining and while drivers made their way out on track, Verstappen remained in his garage, tyres off his RB21 which was on the stand.
Leclerc then had to abort his first timed lap as he went deep into Turn 1 while on Mediums after a massive snap of oversteer from a gust of wind.
Bortoleto went fastest first then Sainz went to the top with Hadjar on Mediums was second dropping the Brazilian for fourth as Stroll was third.
Then Norris went to the top on Soft tyres as Piastri followed in second on the same tyres as Russell then dropped Piastri to second on Mediums. Antonelli went third on Mediums as well.
Hamilton's first lap was good for 11th on Softs but then improved but only to eighth as Verstappen started his first timed lap on Mediums. He went second just 0.050s behind Norris.
With four minutes remaining, Leclerc did not yet post a lap as his second attempt also saw him mess up and end up in the runoff area.
Piastri had a moment with the barriers at Turn 15 but got away with it as Leclerc then went fourth despite brushing the wall at Turn 2. Russell was third. Piastri then improved to second.
With Q2 done, Verstappen led the top ten drivers with a 1:41.255 on the Medium tyres, 0.141s clear of Norris in second with Piastri third fastest.
The rest of the top ten: Russell - Antonelli - Leclerc - Lawson - Hadjar - Sainz - Tsunoda.
And then came the shock, as Hamilton who showed so much promise in practice was eliminated and was only 12th fastest as Alonso was 11thh.
Hamilton had a scruffy first couple of laps in Q2, one of which was ruined by Leclerc running off track and causing a Yellow Flag and ran out of time and rubber to set a third one.
Bortoleto was 13th ahead of Stroll in 14th as Bearman was classified in 15th.
Q3: You really can't script this stuff!
The final part of qualifying started with all driver making their way out on the track expect for Verstappen who stayed in.
Lawson then reported drops of rain at Turn 1 as the drivers were running a mix of new and scrubbed Medium tyres.
Russell went first but then he went off the track and brought out a Yellow Flag which meant Norris just behind him had to back off.
Verstappen reported it was too slippery and raining as Lawson went fastest then Sainz took over as Hadjar was third.
But then, with another twist, and before anyone could post another lap, the Red Flag came out as Leclerc ended up in the wall at Turn 15 head on after a massive lockup.
As it stood Sainz was on provisional pole with Lawson and Hadjar behind him and with the rain increasing, it was looking tough for the rest who did not manage lap times.
Sainz jokingly radios: "You can start dancing to see if it rains a bit harder, no?"
With the session restarted, all the drivers lined up in the pitlane with new Soft tyres except for Verstappen who insisted on the Mediums. He was the first in the queue - seven minutes remained.
Verstappen went first as Sainz went back to the pits. The Dutchman went on with his lap as Norris started his own lap.
But then before any of those drivers could manage a lap, Piastri, the Championship leader, ended up in the wall bringing the sixth Red Flag, a record.
Replay showed that the Aussie could not turn his car at Turn 3 and ended up in the barriers head on - Three minutes and 41 seconds remained.
Q3 was restarted, again, with some drops of rain and under four minutes for the drivers to post a final lap to set the top ten.
Norris went out first on Softs as the other drivers followed. All drivers were on Softs except for Sainz and Antonelli who were on Mediums. Sainz reported that Russell overtook him at the pitlane exit.
Norris started his lap first and Russell was just behind him as all the other driver went for their final laps as well.
Norris went only sesond fastest as Russell dropped his compatriot to third. Lawson then went second and Antonelli went third.
But then Verstappen shattered Williams' dreams and delivered a masterful lap in the most tricky of conditions to take pole with Sainz having to settle for second.
Lawson was third fastest fastest ahead of Antonelli in fourth who also beat Russell who was fifth. A good recovery by the Italian after a shaky start.
Tsunoda was sixth ahead of Norris who was only seventh ahead of Hadjar in eighth.
Piastri and Leclerc, who crashed, were classified in ninth and tenth respectively.
Azerbaijan GP Qualifying Provisional Classification
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