Russell Dominates Azerbaijan GP Qualifying as Hamilton Hits Out at Ferrari Strategy and Piastri Takes Surprise Third
George Russell stormed to a dominant pole position for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix by a commanding margin of eight-tenths of a second, leaving his rivals scrambling to assess their qualifying fortunes around the streets of Baku.
Behind the runaway Mercedes driver, Ferrari and McLaren experienced contrasting sessions, highlighted by Charles Leclerc securing a front-row start, Oscar Piastri claiming a surprise third, and Lewis Hamilton venting his frustration over a late strategy shift that left him sixth.
Hamilton Left Frustrated by Strategy Switch
Hamilton was left ruing Ferrari's run plan after qualifying sixth, questioning why the Scuderia opted for a single multi-lap run late in Q3 rather than completing two separate outings like their front-running rivals.
Because Hamilton was sent out ahead of team-mate Leclerc on track, the seven-time world champion had no slipstream down Baku's 2.2km main straight, while Leclerc benefited from running in his wake.
"It was a pretty bad qualifying once again. It's not for the lack of trying," Hamilton said. "Q1 and Q2 were pretty ok. At least Q1 was pretty decent, Q2 we struggled a little bit more, and then as we went into Q3 they changed the plan."
"Instead of doing two runs we ended up waiting and then because I was ahead of Charles, I had nobody ahead of me on a tow so that was worth quite a chunk in itself. But, either way, we couldn't compete with the Mercedes. They are just outright so much quicker on the straights than us. They did a great job."
Ferrari team principal Frederic Vasseur explained that Hamilton also clipped the wall on his opening flyer, adding: "On Lewis' side, it was difficult to get a tow because the different run plans made it complicated to synchronise with the other cars. He also brushed the wall on his first lap in Q3, which compromised that attempt, but he recovered well to finish sixth despite not having a tow on his final lap."
Leclerc Takes Front Row as McLaren Spring Surprise
Leclerc delivered Ferrari's first front-row start since July, finishing second, but conceded the margin to Russell was unexpected. "Honestly, it was quite a good lap," Leclerc said. "Lewis was three-four seconds, I think, in front, and I managed to do a good lap at the end. But when I see the gap to George, maybe the lap wasn't good enough. But we know that we have a good race car, more often than not better in the race than in qualifying, and I hope that it will be the case again this weekend."
McLaren emerged as the surprise package of the session after struggling through practice. Piastri produced a lap of 1m 43.364s to take third on the grid, missing out on the front row by just 0.001s.
"It’s not the first time that’s happened to us this year," Piastri admitted. "We seem like we’re a bit on the back foot through practice, we come out in Qualifying and, yeah, we just find that bit extra. I was pretty surprised to see us 1-2 after the first lap of Q3, but unfortunately, we had no hope against George. So, happy with how the weekend’s gone so far."
Team-mate Lando Norris had to settle for fifth after locking up on his final flying lap. "I'd rather try and push for P1 and P2 but make a mistake than settle for a P5, or a P3, or a P4," Norris said. "We've got some things we need to fix on the car, because I'm just at a deficit to the other car at the minute."