Rosberg & Mercedes grab pole at inaugural Baku run; Perez an impressive P2 for Force India; Ricciardo P3 for Red Bull
Just a week after a very eventful and impactful Canadian GP the Formula 1 circus arrived at a brand new street circuit in Baku, Azerbaijan for the European Grand Prix. On a track reminiscent of Monaco in its ultra-tight sections through the old town but one that also features long, wide straights suitable for drag racing with speeds up to 345kph/214mph, the teams and drivers had their work cut out for them to come to grips with the green surface and strange geometry of the borderline dangerous Baku layout. And the pilot who showed the fastest learning curve and stiffest nerves was Mercedes’ Nico Rosberg, with the German points leader rebounding from his disappointment in Montreal to grab an emphatic pole on Saturday.
Better yet for Rosberg, his teammate and archival Louis Hamilton failed to carry the momentum of his last two victories over and clipped the wall, breaking his right front suspension in Q3 and causing a Red Flag ( and a mad scramble for the other drivers when Quali resumed with a scant 2:30 remaining). Hamilton will have to start from P10 on the grid come race day on a course where overtaking will be at a true premium. Force India’s Sergio Perez earned a very impressive P2 considering that his car had to have a gearbox change after his own heavy shunt to close out Practice session #3. However the Mexican ace, who has showed excellent form in the last several races, will be pushed back 5 spots for that transmission swap.
Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo put in another sterling quali effort to nab P3 as time ran out and the checkered flag flew. But now the talented Aussie must hope his team can help him to score a corresponding high finish in the race after they botched a few GPs in row with awful pit work. The Ferraris of Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen managed P4 & P5 respectively while Felipe Massa rebounded from his first DNF of the year in Canada last week to grab P6. Daniil Kvyat was impressive in P7 for Toro Rosso, while Williams’ Valtteri Bottas was rather rude to young Max Verstappen to snatch P8 with the Red Bull man settling for P9 after Bottas nearly ran him off track several times in Q3.
Top 10 qualifiers in Azerbaijan:
| POS | DRIVER | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1:43.685 | 1:42.520 | 1:42.758 | |
| 2 | 1:44.462 | 1:43.939 | 1:43.515 | |
| 3 | 1:44.570 | 1:44.141 | 1:43.966 | |
| 4 | 1:45.062 | 1:44.461 | 1:43.966 | |
| 5 | 1:44.936 | 1:44.533 | 1:44.269 | |
| 6 | 1:45.494 | 1:44.696 | 1:44.483 | |
| 7 | 1:44.694 | 1:44.687 | 1:44.717 | |
| 8 | 1:44.706 | 1:44.477 | 1:45.246 | |
| 9 | 1:44.939 | 1:44.387 | 1:45.570 | |
| 10 | 1:44.259 | 1:43.526 | 2:01.954 |
Note – Perez drops five grid places as penalty for an unscheduled gearbox change.
Complete results available via Formula1.com.
Tomorrow’s race airs live at 9AM Eastern time on NBCSports here in the States. With the challenging nature of the Baku circuit it should make for must-see TV even if part of me is somewhat fearful for the drivers safety. Hopefully all ends up well despite what are sure to be several crash-related retirements through the very skinny bits and high speed corners. Hope to see you then!