{"id":19840,"date":"2025-09-21T00:04:07","date_gmt":"2025-09-21T00:04:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/?p=19840"},"modified":"2025-09-21T00:04:07","modified_gmt":"2025-09-21T00:04:07","slug":"verstappen-takes-pole-after-wild-session-of-six-red-flag-crashes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/?p=19840","title":{"rendered":"Verstappen takes pole after wild session of six red-flag crashes"},"content":{"rendered":"
Max Verstappen tip-toed through the hazards of a wild qualifying session featuring six red-flag stoppages on Saturday to claim pole position for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.<\/p>\n

As series leader Oscar Piastri crashed and his McLaren team-mate and title rival Lando Norris struggled for outright speed on his final lap, Red Bull’s four-time champion made the most of treacherous damp conditions to end a near-crazy two-hour session on top.<\/p>\n

The Dutchman clocked a best lap in one minute and 41.117 seconds to finish 0.478 seconds ahead of Williams’ Carlos Sainz and half a second clear of Racing Bulls’ rookie Liam Lawson, who secured his best qualifying result.<\/p>\n

Sainz had made the most of his opportunity in Q3 to go quickest before Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc crashed to bring a sixth red-flag stoppage that wrecked his hopes of a fifth straight Baku pole – and deliver a mixed up grid.<\/p>\n

Mercedes’ under-pressure rookie Kimi Antonelli and George Russell were fourth and fifth ahead of Yuki Tsunoda in the second Red Bull and Norris, who qualified seventh.<\/p>\n

Racing Bulls’ second rookie Isack Hadjar was eighth ahead of Piastri and Leclerc with two-time champion Fernando Alonso taking 11th for Aston Martin and seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton 12th for Ferrari.<\/p>\n

It was Verstappen’s first pole in Baku, his sixth of the season and the 46th of his career.<\/p>\n

“It was difficult to get a lap together, with all the red flags,” said Verstappen.<\/p>\n

“In the final lap, you just have to send it. I wasn’t even on the best tyres. So, I am happy with the weekend!”<\/p>\n

The chaos began in gusty conditions with light drizzle expected and rain threatening for Sunday’s race.<\/p>\n

“We nailed it today by being on the right tyres at the right time,” said Sainz. “So tomorrow I will try to stick it on the podium.”<\/p>\n

Slippery finale\u00a0<\/p>\n

As Q1 began, Piastri was in the pits for a new front wing while his rivals hurried for an early banker lap, but as he started his first lap, a red flag halted the action when Alex Albon hit the barriers, leaving the Australian in danger of elimination.<\/p>\n

After eight minutes’ delay, Hamiton went top, Piastri took second, just two seconds before Sauber’s Nico Hulkenberg hit the wall at Turn Four, triggering a second red flag.<\/p>\n

Another eight-minute stoppage followed, after which Russell, Leclerc and then Norris bagged top spot before yet another red flag crash – Alpine’s Franco Colapinto at Turn Four – ended the action.<\/p>\n

Q2 began after a further 12 minutes’ inaction, but it lasted only three minutes before Oliver Bearman smacked the wall at Turn Two and broke his car’s rear suspension – causing a fourth red flag to retrieve his abandoned machine.<\/p>\n

The stop-go-stop-go session was running nearly an hour off schedule by the time Leclerc and Hamilton led them out again before the Monegasque, chasing a fifth consecutive Baku pole and first win, ran deep at Turn One.<\/p>\n

Verstappen then stole top spot again as a luckless Hamilton exited along with two-time champion Fernando Alonso of Aston Martin, Gabriel Bortoleto of Sauber, Lance Stroll in the second Aston Martin and Haas’s Oliver Bearman.<\/p>\n

On cue, rain fell as the top-ten shootout began.<\/p>\n

“It’s too slippery,” reported Russell after running deep at Turn Four before Leclerc, the ‘Baku maestro’, hit the wall at Turn 15, his hopes wrecked,<\/p>\n

A fifth red flag followed and, with only three drivers’ laps recorded, Sainz was top ahead of the two Racing Bulls.<\/p>\n

“You can start dancing to see if it rains a bit harder, no?” said Sainz on team radio before a frantic, dramatic and slippery finale.<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Max Verstappen tip-toed through the hazards of a wild qualifying session featuring six red-flag stoppages on Saturday to claim pole position for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. As series leader Oscar Piastri crashed and his McLaren team-mate and title rival Lando Norris struggled for outright speed on his final lap, Red Bull’s four-time champion made the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19840","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-english-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19840","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=19840"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19840\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=19840"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=19840"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=19840"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}