One of the trickiest Qualifying Sessions of the season was up next with all 20 drivers looking to get the maximum out of the Baku City Circuit!
Q1
In Qualifying 1; Daniel Ricciardo, Lando Norris, Valtteri Bottas, Zhou Guanyu, and Esteban Ocon were the five slowest drivers! Daniel Ricciardo will be disappointed with a lack of pace in his Visa Cash App RB whilst a disastrous day (and some bad luck) resulted in Lando Norris suffering a shock Q1 elimination! Valtteri Bottas was 6-tenths clear of teammate Zhou Guanyu as Kick Sauber still struggle for performance whilst Esteban Ocon ended up slowest after hitting the wall on his final flying lap! Charles Leclerc topped Q1 for Ferrari from the Williams of Alex Albon!
Q2
In Qualifying 2; Oliver Bearman, Yuki Tsunoda, Pierre Gasly, Nico Hulkenberg, and Lance Stroll all failed to make it into the Top 10 shootout! Oliver Bearman did a really good job to take P11 for Haas whilst Yuki Tsunoda will be satisfied with 12th. P13 was clearly all there was for Pierre Gasly and Alpine whilst Nico Hulkenberg will be disappointed with 14th (and behind his young teammate). Lance Stroll being slowest in Q2 wasn’t the biggest surprise, but being a second off his teammate is simply not good enough! Max Verstappen was back at the top of the times in Q2, just narrowly ahead of Leclerc’s Ferrari.
Q3
In Qualifying 3; a 1:41.365 was enough for Charles Leclerc to take a pretty comfortable Pole Position! Charles is so rapid around Baku, and to take Pole by over 3 tenths is super impressive! Oscar Piastri will start second for McLaren whilst Carlos Sainz is third after being quite a way off his Ferrari teammate. Sergio Perez did a pretty good job to take P4, as did George Russell in P5, whilst Max Verstappen could only manage 6th in his Red Bull. Lewis Hamilton was nowhere in P7 ahead of the Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso whilst Franco Colapinto managed to out-qualify teammate Alex Albon after a great day for Williams (minus a silly error with a cooling fan)!
Starting Grid for the 2024 Azerbaijan Grand Prix and My Qualifying Grades
Charles Leclerc: 10
Oscar Piastri: 9
Carlos Sainz: 7
Sergio Perez: 8
George Russell: 7
Max Verstappen: 6
Lewis Hamilton: 4
Fernando Alonso: 7
Franco Colapinto: 9
Alex Albon: 9
Oliver Bearman: 7
Yuki Tsunoda: 6
Pierre Gasly: 6
Nico Hulkenberg: 5
Lance Stroll: 2
Daniel Ricciardo: 3
Lando Norris: 2
Valtteri Bottas: 3
Esteban Ocon: 1
Zhou Guanyu: 2
My Predictions for the 2024 Azerbaijan Grand Prix
Oscar Piastri
Charles Leclerc
Sergio Perez
Max Verstappen
Carlos Sainz
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