Sir Lewis Hamilton will start the Azerbaijan Grand Prix after finishing fifth in Friday’s qualifying session while Charles Leclerc beat reigning world champion Max Verstappen to pole position.
The seven-time world champion suffered a brake issue during the only free practice session and ended in 11th and looked like he would struggle in qualifying. Hamilton set the 10th fastest time going into the final battle for pole position and while his Mercedes was not able to come close to Leclerc’s Ferrari or Verstappen’s Red Bull, he was able to finish ahead of former title rival Fernando Alonso in the Aston Martin.
The second row of the grid was shared by the second Red Bull and Ferrari of Sergio Perez and Carlos Sainz Jr. respectively while Lando Norris qualified an impressive seventh for McLaren which has struggled for form this season. His teammate Oscar Piastri took 10th Yuki Tsunoda and Lance Stroll ending the session in eighth and ninth.
Hamilton’s teammate George Russell failed to make it into the final qualifying session and will start Sunday’s race in 11th ahead of Esteban Ocon and Alexander Albon.
The grid is locked in for Sunday ????#AzerbaijanGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/lnkMLGxGW2
— Formula 1 (@F1) April 28, 2023
The rear end of the grid is occupied by the Haas duo of Nico Hulkenberg and Kevin Magnussen in 17th and 18th, ahead of Pierre Gasly, while Nyck de Vries will start last after failing to set a time from crashing into the barriers which brought out the first of two red flags during the session.
