An incredibly long and difficult Azerbaijan Grand Prix qualifying session ended with a familiar name on pole position, but behind Max Verstappen mastery of Baku's challenging conditions there was plenty of incident.
Here's our pick of the best and worst performances from Baku F1 qualifying.
Winner - Carlos Sainz (2nd)
Carlos Sainz's first Williams season is a raging catastrophe in the standings - a shocking 54 points back from team-mate Alex Albon - and ultimately the standings are what matters.
But on most evidence he has hardly been a desperate second fiddle, and Saturday's qualifying result means he is actually, remarkably, now ahead of Albon in the qualifying head-to-head.
Sainz was overdue a bit of luck - though he and Williams obviously capitalised well here. With a bit more luck, it would've been pole position, but team boss James Vowles said he didn't want it that way anyway, because he'd like to achieve it on merit. - Val Khorounzhiy
Losers - Lando Norris (7th) and Oscar Piastri (9th)
This has been a high-level title battle in many ways, but Saturday qualifying was a pretty bad case of the two McLaren drivers needlessly making each other's lives easier - and also adding argumentative ammunition to anyone who wants to say these are not the two standout drivers of the season like the standings might tell you they are.
Piastri, usually rock solid, was first to buckle here - which was not that surprising given how ragged he'd looked in the car on Friday, thought he felt it much improved in time for qualifying.
"I think I was much happier [with the car] today, just ultimately I think tried a bit too hard in Turn 3," he recapped. "I haven't actually looked at what I did differently. Because I didn't feel like I did that much differently. But a tiny bit can make a massive difference."
But after Piastri left Norris that open goal, Norris took a step and blasted the ball over the bar with a ragged-looking final lap, one that has effectively negated the title race impact of Piastri's mistake.
Norris said his Q3 effort was doomed anyway in going out first after the red flag, with the track at its worst - but that had anyway been his own preference, in trying to avoid any yellow flags.
And it does seem questionable whether the conditions were bad enough for him to end up slower than all but a botched Isack Hadjar lap. - VK
Winner - Max Verstappen (1st)
In a session where all of F1’s top drivers found ways to throw away an opportunity to take pole, typically its best driver delivered in spades.
From running later and/or less than his rivals on the harder medium tyre in each segment, to jumping onto the soft with just over three minutes to go and delivering a pole lap almost half a second clear, this was vintage ‘deliver under pressure’ territory for Verstappen.
He did have the advantage of fresh tyres when some others were on used at the end, but still an absolute joy to watch as his rivals crumbled around him. - Jack Benyon
Loser - Ferrari (9th and 12th)
If this isn't the strongest the Ferrari SF-25 has looked this season, it's in the ballpark - but now Ferrari will need a lot to go right on Sunday to stop this weekend from going onto the already considerable pile of 2025 disappointments.
Charles Leclerc has been fast this weekend but hasn't necessarily looked like his usual Baku self, a lot more ragged instead, something that he readily admitted.
"It's a track that I normally enjoy and where things flow quite naturally but it's been the complete opposite the whole weekend," he said.
Both he and team-mate Lewis Hamilton were displeased in hindsight at tyre choice through qualifying.
Hamilton, who's felt he's taken a big step forward inside the car, pointed to running the softs late in Q2 as the sole culprit for his Q3 absence.
Leclerc said running the medium early in Q3 contributed to his "misjudgment" in finding the barrier later on. - VK
Loser - Alpine (16th, 19th)
Before the penultimate red flag in Q1 Franco Colapinto sat 10th and Gasly wasn’t far behind, but minutes later their session fell to pieces.
Boosted by a tailwind, Gasly locked up and went straight on to get stuck in the run-off at Turn 4, and then Colapinto came through m later and smashed the Turn 4 outside wall in a really disappointing incident.
Flavio Briatore’s just announced it's a two-driver shootout for the seat alongside Gasly next year, and Colapinto immediately follows that up with a silly crash, gifting Paul Aron the momentum.
Winner - Kimi Antonelli (4th)
Antonelli almost failed to make it out of Q1, during which a pretty stern-sounding Toto Wolff radio message encouraged him that he had enough time to turn things around and post a "clean lap" to progress to Q2.
And that’s exactly what Antonelli did. He scraped through Q1, was well within a tenth of George Russell in Q2 and then in the high-pressure environment of only three minutes left to set a final lap in Q3, he beat Russell (admittedly feeling unwell this weekend) by three and a half tenths.
After all the talk of Wolff cranking up the criticism on his rookie driver, Antonelli's bounced back in one of the most difficult and rollercoaster sessions anyone could face in F1.
This result will count for a lot while he’s under the microscope. - JB
Loser - Alex Albon (20th)
Albon admitted to making a “rookie error” in Q1, which meant he snagged the inside barrier at Turn 1 on only his second push lap, describing the grip difference from one lap to the next as "huge".
He turned in too early, expecting the front to slide but the car "didn't understeer", describing the error (accurately) as "clumsy", though team boss James Vowles later ascribed this to a 20km/h headwind on that lap that made the front of the car respond "the way it should normally".
Even so, it was not the sort of misjudgement you expect from someone of Albon's quality and experience, especially considering how well he’s driven this season so far, and it was a real missed opportunity considering where Sainz ended up. - Ben Anderson
Winner - Liam Lawson (3rd)
The comparison to Isack Hadjar over 2025 has been unfavourable, so Liam Lawson can have few complaints that his F1 future is in jeopardy - but days like these remind you that he definitely belongs at this level, especially when at his improvisational, adaptive best.
There were over six tenths between the two team-mates here, Lawson at the sharp end, Hadjar thwarted by a moment of "skateboarding" over the outside kerb coming onto the final straight.
More from Baku
Mark Hughes: Why Verstappen thrived and rivals flopped in Baku chaos
Why McLaren is suddenly fearing a Verstappen title comeback
Leclerc and Hamilton wanted each other's tyres in botched qualifying
Verstappen beats Sainz to pole in chaotic, crash-filled Baku F1 qualifying
Does it change anything for 2026, with Red Bull's line-up decisions coming soon?
"I mean, for sure it's good to have these results," Lawson said. "It's important for me, more than anything - but we need more than one."
Converting this advantageous grid slot to a big points haul on Sunday feels like it would be a big deal. - VK
Loser - Haas (15th, 18th)
Brake issues put Esteban Ocon out in Q1 - and then he was disqualified from the session for a rear wing flexibility infringement - but it was the other car where the biggest annoyance has to be as Ollie Bearman ended a weekend filled with promise so far in the wall in Q2.
Bearman’s absolutely rapid, but there have been too many errors this year and this adds to the pile, albeit with the proviso that if Leclerc and Piastri end up in the wall, the likelihood of anyone else doing it earns a bit of added sympathy. - JB
Loser - Nico Hulkenberg (17th)
This was yet another instance of Hulkenberg being beaten in qualifying by his rookie team-mate, and this time through an error of his own.
He hit the wall in Q1, but looked like he’d redeemed himself after Sauber managed to get his front wing sorted, as he jumped to 13th on his final Q1 run.
But then he was toppled down the order as others improved, and had to watch on as Bortoleto took the other car into Q2 - again.
A worrying Saturday trend continues for Hulkenberg. - JB
