Max Verstappen qualified for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix on pole while Lando Norris could manage only seventh after McLaren team-mate and title rival Oscar Piastri crashed out
Lando Norris refused to admit an opportunity missed despite title rival Oscar Piastri crashing out of qualifying for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. The Aussie smashed up his McLaren in one of a swathe of incidents during an action-packed session in Baku.
Qualifying was stopped SIX times for crashes – a new Formula 1 record – and took two hours to complete as chaos reigned on the streets of the Azerbaijani capital. For context, that is 45 minutes longer than it took for Max Verstappen to win the entire Italian Grand Prix from pole two weeks ago.
The Dutchman avoided all the drama to take pole, but Norris had to settle for seventh and will start today’s race just two places above his McLaren team-mate. But when asked by Sky Sports if it was a chance wasted in his title bid, he swiftly replied: “Nope.”
The Brit elaborated: “It was just a mistake from my side, from our side, to go out of the pit lane first. If there was a yellow flag or a red, we would have looked like the heroes, but now I kind of look like the loser. That’s the price you pay sometimes around here, and the risk you take. Just a decision that didn’t work out.”
What irked Norris most was that his best effort was more than a full second slower than Verstappen’s pole lap. And he pointed at that as he hinted that driving from seventh on the grid to victory will be a tall order, even with some cars starting ahead of the McLarens out of place in terms of car performance.
He added: “I wanted more. It feels like it hurts a bit because this is not normal for us. I made a mistake which cost a couple of places but the rest of the lap wasn’t where it needed to be, the grip wasn’t there. Red Bull are just too quick. They are just as quick as us, easily.”
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The chaos created a mixed-up grid with Carlos Sainz on the front row with Verstappen in his Williams. Liam Lawson also shocked with a time quick enough for third on today’s grid with rookie Kimi Antonelli fourth, ahead of George Russell for just the second time all year.
But it was a shocker for Ferrari as Charles Leclerc crashed out before Piastri in Q3, confirming the end of his remarkable run which saw him take pole position for the Baku race on each of his previous four visits to this circuit. Lewis Hamilton didn’t even make it that far.
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“Honestly, I am so disappointed,” said the seven-time F1 champion who qualified 12th. “Our pace has been good, we’ve been progressing, and I was feeling really on it. It’s just that we didn’t have the right tyre on at the end.”
Hamilton said he was overruled by Ferrari after requesting the medium tyre, adding: “The choice was taken not to [use] it. I wanted to, but they said the warm-up was too long. I honestly thought I would be shooting for pole today, so it’s come as a bit of a shock.”