Lewis Hamilton clams pole position for Azerbaijan Grand Prix

With Max Verstappen setting the early pace in FP1 and FP2 and Valtteri Bottas topping FP3, the battle for pole position for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix was shaping up to be a closely fought battle, with Mercedes, Ferrari, and Red Bull Racing all having machinery that could challenge for the top honors.

Lewis Hamilton clams pole position for Azerbaijan Grand Prix

Qualifying 1

In the first part of qualifying, Lewis Hamilton set the pace with 1:41.983, half a second ahead of his nearest challenger, Max Verstappen. Q1 marked the elimination of five drivers, meaning that only 15 progressed to the second part. Fernando Alonso was knocked out of Q1 for the first time in 2017 after he was demoted to the drop zone by Kevin Magnussen in the closing stages of the session. Joining Alonso in elimination from qualifying was Romain Grosjean for Haas F1, only managing to qualify in 17th place after struggling out on track. Marcus Ericsson was 18th for Sauber while Stoffel Vandoorne was also eliminated in the second McLaren in 19th place. Jolyon Palmer rounded out the session for Renault after failing to set a lap due to his Renault not being ready to drive after its fire in final practice. Going into the race, both Alonso and Vandoorne face grid penalties for exceeding engine components on their cars, demoting them to the back the grid.

Qualifying 2

In the second part of qualifying, Lewis Hamilton continued where he left off in Q1, setting the best time of the session with a 1:41.275, 0.636 seconds ahead of second placed Sebastian Vettel. Another five drivers were eliminated from Q2, narrowing the field to the fastest ten drivers for the final session of qualifying. Toro Rosso narrowly missed out on a Q3 appearance, with Daniil Kvyat only managing 11th place and Carlos Sainz Jr qualifying in 12th. With a three place grid penalty however, Sainz will be demoted to 15th place in the race. This will promote Kevin Magnussen up to 12th place after the Haas driver only managed to set the 13th fastest time. Nico Hulkenberg will be promoted to 13th place through Sainz’s penalty after qualifying down in 14th place – his worst qualifying result of 2017. Pascal Wehrlein rounded out the session in 15th place for Sauber and will also be promoted up the field once Sainz’s penalty has been applied.

Qualifying 3

Going into the final part of qualifying, Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes were looking like the ones to beat after setting the pace in Q1 and Q2. In the early stages of the session, Valtteri Bottas claimed provisional pole while Hamilton closely followed him in second after making a mistake in the final sector during his flying lap. The red flag then waved in the session for Daniel Ricciardo who crashed in turn 6, disrupting the session for many and ending a fast lap from Hamilton, preventing the triple world champion from going fastest. With 3 minutes and 33 seconds remaining of the session, the nine remaining drivers took to the track for one final run once the pit lane went green, with Max Verstappen leading them around on the warm up lap. When the checkered flag waved, Bottas crossed the line to improve on his previous time and looked to be starting in pole position for the race. Hamilton then crossed the line and improved however, making him the fastest driver in the session which means that he will start from pole position for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix while Bottas will line up alongside him in second place. Kimi Raikkonen was the highest qualifying Ferrari, heading up a Scuderia 3-4 result. Max Verstappen qualified in fifth place for Red Bull while Sergio Perez qualified in sixth, followed by his team mate, Esteban Ocon, in seventh. The Williams pair were next up, with Lance Stroll out qualifying Felipe Massa for the first time in 2017 to start in eighth place. Daniel Ricciardo rounded out the session in tenth place due to crashing out of the session.

Going into the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, the race is shaping up to be interesting, with Mercedes continuing where they left off at the Canadian Grand Prix start from first and second place. Whether Ferrari will be able to challenge the reigning champions is unknown, but Kimi Raikkonen is looking to be on top of Sebastian Vettel, with the current championship leader struggling so far this weekend. Force India are also looking competitive in sixth and seventh along with the Williams pair in eighth and ninth. Could they take the battle to Red Bull this weekend or potentially challenge a vulnerable looking Ferrari team for a possible podium finish? The Azerbaijan Grand Prix will tell all.