Baku Qualifying six Red Flag culprits explain their crashes

Drivers battled gusting winds, light rain and rapidly changing grip levels, with some paying the price on Baku’s unforgiving street circuit during a Qualifying session that nearly dragged to two hours due to the interruptions.

Alex Albon was the first to fall. The Williams driver clipped Turn 1 on his opening push lap and ended up in the barriers. He admitted afterwards it was a “rookie error”, misjudging the grip as the first car through the corner, a mistake that brought out the first Red Flag.

In the Williams team report, Albon said: "I’m very disappointed after a mistake in Q1 ended our Qualifying early. I made a mistake on my second push lap, the track had evolved, and I was caught out with the different levels of grip going into the corner. It was a misjudgement.

"It is a shame as the car was feeling good all weekend, and I have been running in the top 10 throughout the practice sessions. It’s about recovery tomorrow to make up positions and to fight through the field during the Race," added Albon.

Moments later, Nico Hülkenberg caused the second stoppage. The experienced German made an error of his own, hitting the wall and leaving his Haas stranded, compounding the disruption in Q1.

Veteran of 242 Grand Prix starts, Hulkenberg summed up his Qualifying: “It was a disappointing session, no doubt. For the first time all weekend, I struggled quite a lot with front locking, and that made it tough to put a clean lap together. Up until qualifying, things had been going well, so it’s frustrating to miss the mark when it mattered most."

Alpine’s Franco Colapinto added to the drama late in the first session. Distracted as teammate Pierre Gasly ran wide into a runoff, the rookie lost concentration and struck the wall. His crash in the dying seconds of Q1 brought out the third Red Flag and ended Alpine’s hopes of advancing both cars.

Colapinto reported after his shunt: "The car felt much better today and we made some good steps forward from yesterday. I was up on my delta at the start of the final lap in Q1, but a big gust of wind into Turn 4 meant I lost the rear completely and made contact with the wall on the outside.

"Wind tends to play a major factor here, but it seemed more so today with gusts catching a lot of people out with multiple incidents and stoppages throughout Qualifying. It's a pity that we didn't get to complete the lap, as I felt with how the car was feeling, we had a good chance of getting through to Q2. Also sorry to the team for the extra work," added the Argentine rookie.

The fourth Red Flag was triggered in Q2 by Ollie Bearman. The Haas rookie brushed the wall, damaging his suspension and coming to a halt on track. It was another costly error on a day when drivers struggled simply to stay between the barriers.

Bearman also cited the 'wind factor' as catching him out: “I touched the wall at Turn 2 when trying to get an early lap on the board, as there were lots of interruptions before. Every lap is important - we nearly got thrown out in Q1 because of that – but I unfortunately got caught out by the wind, so I can only say sorry to the team."

In Q3, Charles Leclerc became the fifth culprit. The Ferrari driver, normally one of Baku’s strongest performers, lost control as the rain began to fall and slammed into the barriers, ending his hopes of a front-row start.

Leclerc admitted in the Ferrari team report: "I over-dedicated myself to that corner and just didn’t have the grip, so I made a mistake. We were on the wrong side of things today, just like some others

Finally, Oscar Piastri closed the session with the sixth and last Red Flag. The McLaren driver, locked in a title fight with Lando Norris, crashed heavily shortly after running resumed, ensuring qualifying ended prematurely and ruining his chances of a strong grid slot.

Amid the chaos, Max Verstappen emerged with pole for Red Bull, ahead of Carlos Sainz who secured a shock front row for Williams. Liam Lawson was third in Racing Bulls’ best qualifying of the season. For Albon, Hülkenberg, Colapinto, Bearman, Leclerc and Piastri, though, Baku qualifying was a day to forget.