George Russell has taken Baku pole position for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, and honestly, Mercedes could not have written a more dramatic qualifying session if they tried.
While Russell absolutely sent it around the streets of Baku to grab P1, his teammate and championship leader Kimi Antonella had a qualifying session that can only be described as: bestie, what happened?
Russell put together a ridiculous 1:42:526 in Q3 to take Baku pole, finishing 0.837 seconds ahead of Charles Leclerc. Oscar Piastri completed the top three for McLaren, just 0.001 seconds behind Leclerc.
This wasn’t exactly a surprising result from Russell. Mercedes have looked seriously quick through the practice sessions, with Russell topping both of Thursday’s before Verstappen took fastest in FP3 on Friday morning.
But while Russell was busy serving pole-position realness, Antonelli was having a very different afternoon.
The championship leader’s qualifying went wrong almost immediately. Antonelli hit the wall during Q1, damaging his Mercedes and bringing his session to an abrupt end. While his time saw him through to Q2, his car was too damaged to continue. He’ll start Saturday’s race from 16th on the grid.
For a driver currently leading the championship that’s … not ideal. Especially because his teammate and also in the running for the championship is starting from pole.
Antonelli has previously spoken about how difficult the Baku circuit can be, and after qualifying he described the crash as a “very stupid” mistake, saying it was a reminder that he still has things to learn.
So, naturally, the championship battle continues to get more and more interesting.
Russell now has a clear opportunity to claw back points from his teammate, while Antonelli has 51 laps around one of F1’s least forgiving street circuits to make his way through the field.
And if you’ve ever watched Baku, you’ll know that asking 19 cars to behave themselves for 51 laps is basically asking the universe for a miracle.
Leclerc will start alongside Russell on the front row after that mega P2, while Piastria will line up third. Behind them, Isack Hadjar continued his impressive Red Bull streak by qualifying fourth, ahead of McLaren’s Lando Norris in fifth. Lewis Hamilton starts sixth for Ferrari, with Pierre Gasly seventh for Alpine and Max Verstappen only eighth for Red Bull, despite topping FP3 earlier in the day. However, the Red Bull driver was affected by a yellow flag caused by Norris during Q3, so we’ll let him off.
Carlos Sainz qualified ninth for Williams, with Colapinto rounding out the top ten for Alpine.
Your Baku pole and top 10 🏁
- George Russell – Mercedes
- Charles Leclerc – Ferrari
- Oscar Piastri – McLaren
- Isack Hadjar – Red Bull
- Lando Norris – McLaren
- Lewis Hamilton – Ferrari
- Pierre Gasly – Alpine
- Max Verstappen – Red Bull
- Carlos Sainz – Williams
- Franco Colapinto – Alpine
The Azerbaijan Grand Prix is also doing things a little differently this year, with qualifying taking place on Friday and the race on Saturday because of a national holiday in the country on Sunday.
So tomorrow we’ve got Russell on pole with Leclerc alongside him, three-time world champion Verstappen lurking in eighth, and the championship leader buried down in 16th.
Baku has officially entered its “let’s see what happens” era.
Don’t forget to track live race data on The Grid, right here at Fast Girls Club.