Verstappen takes pole after record six red flags

Red Bull's Max Verstappen took pole position ahead of Williams' Carlos Sainz after an extraordinary qualifying session featuring a record six red flags at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.

McLaren's championship rivals Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris will start seventh and ninth, the Australian after crashing in the final part of qualifying and Norris failing to produce a good final lap.

Sainz was on course for pole position after being the fastest of three drivers to set a time before Ferrari's Charles Leclerc crashed early in the final part of qualifying.

Piastri then crashed shortly after the session was restarted, and Verstappen was the only driver able to improve on Sainz's time when the session restarted for the final time with just over three minutes remaining.

Racing Bulls' Liam Lawson will start third, with the lap time he set behind Sainz in the first part of the session.

Mercedes drivers Kimi Antonelli and George Russell managed fifth and sixth fastest time but the Italian faces an investigation for overtaking under yellow flags after one of many incidents in the session.

Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton was fastest in Friday practice but will start 12th after failing to progress from the second part of qualifying.

Norris had a golden opportunity to make up ground on Piastri, who has a 31-point advantage in the championship, after the Australian's crash at Turn Three in the middle of the final session.

But the Briton had a scrappy final lap, with lots of moments on the exits of corners and could only manage a time 1.122secs slower than Verstappen. He was also beaten by the second Red Bull of Yuki Tsunoda.

The second Racing Bull of Isack Hadjar, the other driver to set a time at the start of the session, was eighth, ahead of the crash drivers Piastri and Leclerc.

Verstappen said: "It was a very difficult session and on the last lap you just have to send it. I wasn't even on the best tyres I wanted because you just run out of tyres."

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Azerbaijan Grand Prix

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