Overview

• Max Verstappen secured pole with a 1:41.117 in a final one-shot run after repeated stoppages stretched qualifying to roughly two hours.
• Williams’ Carlos Sainz will start second and Racing Bulls’ Liam Lawson third, with Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli fourth and George Russell fifth ahead of Yuki Tsunoda.
• Oscar Piastri crashed in Q3 and starts ninth, and Lando Norris clipped the wall on his last lap to line up seventh.
• Ferrari faltered as Charles Leclerc crashed to tenth and Lewis Hamilton was knocked out in Q2 in 12th after leading a practice session on Friday.
• The session set a record with six red flags, including incidents for Alex Albon, Nico Hülkenberg, Franco Colapinto and Oliver Bearman, and the reshuffled grid complicates McLaren’s title push after entering Baku able to clinch the Constructors’ crown with a 1–2 finish.