Winners and losers from the 2024 Azerbaijan Grand Prix qualifying

Charles Leclerc has taken pole position for Ferrari for the 2024 Azerbaijan Grand Prix, his fourth consecutive pole on the streets of Baku.

These are our winners and losers from the 2024 Azerbaijan Grand Prix qualifying.

Winners and losers from the 2024 Azerbaijan Grand Prix qualifying

Winner: Charles Leclerc

Fresh from taking victory in Monza (and promptly smacking his Ferrari road car into the back of another car while driving around Monte Carlo last week), Charles Leclerc bounced back magnificently from his Friday crash by going quickest in FP2 later in the afternoon.

This strong form continued on Saturday, with Leclerc setting a 1:42.775 to go quickest of everyone in the final part of qualifying and claim another pole position on the streets of Baku – it’s now five years since anyone else has started from pole at the circuit.

Of those four, does Leclerc believe it’s his strongest yet, given the strength of the opposition?

“No, it’s not the best,” he said.

“I think the ‘21 one was probably the best as we were in a very, very difficult year. I think we were fighting for P9, P10, that championship and to be on pole here was very special. However, it was a good lap. I mean, it was a really good lap.

“Again, there’s not… For some reason, there’s not that much scatter between my laps on this track. It looks like I’m very consistent. But again, I don’t really have the magic answer. But I just like the rhythm of this track. And every lap I was doing was quite competitive from FP1. And the balance was feeling really good. So the lap was good. It was really good. But yeah, it’s also very difficult to compare it to other years.”

Is it too late for a proper tilt at the title, given Leclerc is only 24 points further back from Norris? If Ferrari can keep up its recent form, it’s not unthinkable that Leclerc could end up closing the gap considerably on Verstappen by the time Abu Dhabi rolls around…

Loser: Lando Norris

Did the brief yellow flag flash really cause Lando Norris’ poor qualifying position? Or was it the wayward moment where he ended up bottoming out on the kerb exiting Turn 16, compromising his exit just before he backed out of his final flying lap?

Certainly, the yellow flag proved something of a distraction but the track appeared to be clear and green at the point where Norris made his mistake – the British driver explaining afterward that he had lifted due to the yellow flag.

“Not really on the back foot, just the guy ahead of me crashed and those yellow flags. I was feeling good,” Norris said afterward.

“When you have a two kilometres straight and you lift at the beginning, of course, yeah. Nothing I could do, honestly.

“Of course, a bit disappointed and frustrated, but yeah, nothing I can change.”

Either way, having left things late to the point of being open to the risk of such a yellow flag (as almost happened to Max Verstappen in Q1 as well), Norris’ exit was the latest example of the slight lack of sharpness that both driver and team are displaying in this season, their maiden attempt at winning a title together.

With eight race weekends to go, and having lost nine points on Verstappen since Miami – despite having had a much more competitive car – McLaren and Norris can’t afford any further errors, whether from Norris or the team.

Unfortunately, neither are impervious and Norris will need a dose of good luck to be able to prevent Verstappen from actually extending his lead this weekend in what could be a huge missed opportunity.

Of course, given the unpredictability of races around Baku City Circuit, it’s too early to write off the possibility of getting that fortune, but to be relying on fortune rather than performance when the chips are down suggests the title may still be a step too far for Norris.

Should Verstappen manage to extend his points lead back over 70 points on Sunday, it means Norris won’t have closed a single point on the Dutch driver since Miami – despite having the demonstrably quicker car for 10+ races and having only won twice.

With Piastri showing more consistent form, might he be the one to benefit from McLaren’s revised team orders rules before the end of the season?

Winner: Sergio Perez

It’s been quite a weekend for Sergio Perez, with the Mexican driver making the most of Red Bull’s upgrade (which one suspects is having a bigger effect than the ‘subtle’ step forward that has been hinted at).

His historic form in Baku, even beating Verstappen on merit in last year’s race, was part of the reason why Red Bull chose to keep the faith with the loyal Perez to kick off the second half of the championship, and this decision may yet yield dividends.

Christian Horner acknowledged that Perez is “walking taller” since Verstappen’s recent issues gave Perez confidence that the RB20 balance problems haven’t just been affecting him, and Perez has looked the more comfortable of the two Red Bull drivers so far this weekend.

Verstappen isn’t enjoying the Red Bull to the same extent, as was put on display by his squirrelly moments at Turn 16.

While his performance isn’t bad enough to warrant being put in the Losers column (although it’s close), the Dutch driver has been outqualified for the first time (and on merit) in 2024 by Perez and, thus, is in the unusual position of having Perez attempt to help him out by leading the Red Bull push on Sunday.

With Norris set for a tough race trying to recover from the back of the pack, this weekend marks a prime opportunity for Verstappen and Red Bull to secure their position in the championship a little – and Perez’s strong performance hints the potential is there in the car to do so.

Potential that, for once, Verstappen isn’t exploiting the most of.

Loser: Lewis Hamilton

Hamilton has now officially lost the qualifying battle to George Russell this year, with the seven-time F1 World Champion taking a drubbing in this regard as the score is 13-4 in Russell’s favour after Baku.

Given that qualifying speed is often regarded as the first thing to go on a driver as they get older, this realisation appears to have struck Hamilton hard recently with his post-qualifying demeanour usually one of sadness and self-criticism.

Fortunately, Hamilton’s abilities in the races remain undiminished, but he does leave himself a lot of work to do due to lacking the final few tenths which Russell appears able to find week in, week out – the gap was four-tenths of a second on this occasion as Russell finished in fifth, with Hamilton in seventh.

More from the Azerbaijan Grand Prix:

👉 F1 starting grid: What is the grid order for the 2024 Azerbaijan Grand Prix?

👉 F1 2024: Head-to-head qualifying record between team-mates

Winner: Franco Colapinto

The Argentinean driver may have hit the wall on Friday, but more than made up for it with his incredible performance on Saturday.

It’s worth remembering that the tricky Baku circuit is not one Colapinto knows, with the Williams man pointing out how he had to learn the car, but not the track, ahead of Monza, but needed to learn the track for this weekend.

Just as impressive as Alex Albon, who has considerably more experience as a driver, with Williams, and is fully race-sharp, Colapinto showed no signs of his comparative lack of experience with the FW46 to make it into Q3 and qualify ninth – three-tenths clear of Albon as the British-Thai driver couldn’t set his final flying lap.

Albon also belongs on the winner’s list, despite the calamitous final minutes of his session, and showed his usual grace and dignity by not getting angry with his team for their monumental error in procedure.

But, back to Colapinto, the first Argentinean driver to qualify in the top 10 since Carlos Reutemann in 1982, he has shown he’s nowhere near out of his depth in F1. While finances may have helped his cause for landing the seat, Colapinto is very much making the most of his nine-race audition.

Is the fact that he has next to no chance of landing a seat, thus reducing the pressure, helping him just race with the gung-ho mentality that he needs to perform at his best?

Certainly, Carlos Sainz must be feeling relieved he actually put pen to paper with Williams, as Colapinto’s form is such that he would be rapidly bringing himself into the picture.

But surely this is making Valtteri Bottas sweat. The Finn appears quite confident of retaining his seat with Sauber, while Gabriel Bartoleto has also been linked with the vacant seat as Mattia Binotto has taken charge. But Binotto is known for being willing to take risks on a driver, and Colapinto is showing he can cut it with the big boys. Might he become a late usurper for the Sauber seat?

Loser: Alpine

It’s been a difficult weekend for Alpine this weekend, with multiple technical issues and on-track stoppages.

The misfortunes didn’t end in qualifying, with Esteban Ocon clipping the wall to deflate his left-rear tyre in Q1 – meaning he missed out on making any further progress.

Pierre Gasly managed to make it into Q2 and qualified 13th but, at the time of writing, has been summoned before the stewards for an alleged fuel flow infringement – a technical infringement that would suggest disqualification from qualifying, given the usual slam-dunk nature of such a transgression.

Winner: Oliver Bearman

First race weekend with a little bit of preparation time for the F1 2025 signing, as Oliver Bearman stands in for the banned (it feels strange to say that!) Kevin Magnussen.

While he showed a little bit of his inexperience by binning the car in third practice as he failed to back out early enough at Turn 1, Bearman performed when the chips were down in qualifying and even out-qualified Nico Hulkenberg – who is something of a qualifying master himself.

Coming out ahead by two-tenths of a second, Bearman is showing some signs of being cut from the same mould as Charles Leclerc and Lando Norris in being overly self-critical, with the English driver labelling himself an “idiot” despite his stellar 11th-place finish.

Loser: Sky F1 impartiality

Adrian Newey’s comments during the week about how Max Verstappen was “demonised” by the British media may have raised eyebrows after his appearance on Jake Humphrey’s High Performance Podcast during the week, as the new Aston Martin signing spoke about how he’s seen drivers treated during his time at Red Bull.

“I think from the outside I’m not sure people fully appreciate and understand Max [Verstappen], just like they didn’t with Sebastian [Vettel],” said Newey.

“First of all, there’s this sort of demonisation both of them suffered at times, which I think is very unfair, and maybe that’s also a little bit of the British media if I’m honest.

“Sky has a huge influence around the world, their viewing is truly international, but their coverage is quite nationalistic dare I say, and that can have an influence.”

If these comments stung at Sky headquarters, it certainly didn’t appear to be the case as Ted Kravitz interviewed Norris following the British driver’s failure to make it through Q1.

While there’s certainly no need to set about kicking a driver while they’re down, Kravitz sounded almost as emotional as the devastated Norris as his questioning was sympathetic to the point of being sycophantic – a position which would be acceptable if Sky’s coverage was purely national, and not international.

One wonders whether Verstappen, had he been the one knocked out in Q1 in such fashion, would have been given the same arm around the shoulder.

If Sky wishes to lose its perception of having favourites – of being overly nationalistic for what is the de facto international broadcaster – cutting out the display of such blatant disappointment on behalf of a championship challenger should be the first big step towards ensuring greater neutrality.

As would be allowing one of its broadcasters to have a familial connection to the drivers, as is the case with Natalie Pinkham, who is close enough with Daniel Ricciardo to the point the Australian has become her son’s godfather.

With Newey’s comments suggesting the issue of such nationalism rankled him quite a bit, it begs the question – is Sky too close to those it reports on?

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