Winners and losers from the 2025 Azerbaijan Grand Prix qualifying

After two brutal, crash-filled hours, qualifying for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix at Baku City Circuit is complete, and while it’s a familiar face on pole, the chaotic session gave us plenty to talk about.

Max Verstappen will lead the field to green with former teammate Carlos Sainz alongside him, but there were some major thrills and spills throughout the session. These are PlanetF1.com’s winners and losers for the 2025 Azerbaijan Grand Prix qualifying.

Winners and losers from the 2025 Azerbaijan Grand Prix qualifying

Winner: Carlos Sainz

No, Carlos Sainz didn’t manage to snag pole at the end of a chaotic qualifying session for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, but his front-row start is uniquely worthy of recognition.

Since discovering that he would be out of a drive at Ferrari for the F1 2025 season, and since his options for a seat whittled away to leave him with Williams, Sainz has been on a mission to prove that he has what it takes to be considered a top-level driver amidst the challenging conditions of a team that has been struggling for several years.

Sainz held on through a rocky qualifying session to set the second flying lap in Q3, just in time for Charles Leclerc’s crash to bring out a red flag and freeze the standings with his name at the top of the timing charts. As he noted in his post-qualifying interview, there was only one driver who could snatch that away: Max Verstappen.

This is a feather in Sainz’s cap, particularly considering the fact that his teammate Alex Albon was the first crash of the session.

Baku is a track that does enjoy plenty of quality overtakes, so whether or not Sainz can hold that front-row start through to a podium finish remains to be seen — though he’s certainly going to give it his best shot.

Loser: McLaren

All McLaren needs to bring home the constructors’ championship this weekend is a win for one driver and a third place for the other, but after qualifying, it looks like that’s going to be a difficult battle to fight.

Both drivers looked quick as they carved into Q3, but it was Oscar Piastri who brought out the record-breaking sixth red flag of the session when he slid straight not the barriers at Turn 3. His MCL39 was forced to retire on the spot, leaving him ninth overall in the session.

And while Lando Norris did manage to keep his machinery out of the wall, his final flying lap in Q3 was uninspiring. The first driver out on track after the red flag caused by his teammate, Norris appeared to be wrangling his MCL39 with intensity, but the track was clearing in his wake and the following drivers were learning just how hard to push.

In the end, Norris’ lap was only good enough for a seventh-place start on the grid, leaving him just one row ahead of his title rival in a qualifying session that could have been a serious shot in the arm to his championship.

Dig deeper into F1 ahead of the Azerbaijan GP:

? Eleven moments of Azerbaijan GP chaos as F1 returns to Baku

? What’s really behind F1’s push for more Sprint races?

Winner: Max Verstappen

There are few Formula 1 records that Max Verstappen hasn’t made a strong effort at breaking — which is why it’s so surprising that his pole position at 2025’s Azerbaijan Grand Prix is his very first pole at the challenging Baku City Circuit.

The Red Bull Racing crew has looked comfortable all weekend long, which has been something of a rarity in a year punctuated by the RB21’s challenging lack of balance. Yuki Tsunoda, too, managed to cruise into Q3 to secure an eighth-place starting slot on Sunday’s grid.

But it was Verstappen’s final flying lap that served as a reminder of why he’s a truly generational talent.

Carlos Sainz topped the timing charts in Q3 by becoming the second driver to set a flying lap. Not long after, two red flags and a burst of rain thwarted most of the competition; most drivers knew that their final flying lap would be critical, but that it would also be the most difficult lap of the day.

Max Verstappen was undeterred. He and the team decided that being one of the final cars on track would be the right call, and the Dutch driver took full advantage of the opportunity to snag pole by more than four-tenths of  a second.

Loser: Charles Leclerc

Both Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton had disastrous qualifying sessions at the Baku City Circuit, albeit for dramatically different reasons — hence why they’re not grouped under a ‘Ferrari’ banner.

Let’s start with Leclerc, who took pole position at this very track back in 2024. The Monegasque driver once again looked like he had pace to challenge for a start at the front of the field, but that all fell apart in Q3, when incoming rain and an increasingly slippery track saw Leclerc lose grip and clatter into the wall.

That was the end of the road for Leclerc, who had not yet set a time in Q3. His day came to an end, and he’ll start from 10th on the grid for Sunday’s race.

Winner: Liam Lawson

Liam Lawson’s career-best qualifying session saw him snag the third-quickest time in Q3 — and while it wasn’t quite enough for him to end up on the front row of the grid, it was still a strong effort worthy of praise.

This is a critical moment for Lawson. Red Bull special advisor Helmut Marko has suggested that Red Bull and Racing Bulls will be settling their line-ups near the end of October. Isack Hadjar’s impressive podium at the Dutch Grand Prix did much to help secure his future; Liam Lawson, though, hasn’t been quite as lucky.

This performance in Baku could do much to reaffirm his future with the Red Bull program.

Yes, Lawson snagged his second-row starting position thanks to a wild combination of luck, crashes, and weather, but the fact that he was in a position to capitalize on the chaos of the session says much about his skill as a driver.

The real test will come on Sunday afternoon, when the field rockets to the first corner at the start of the race. Lawson’s ability to make the most of his starting position will be a significant contributor to discussions about his future.

Loser: Lewis Hamilton

While Charles Leclerc’s qualifying crash was somewhat the result of an ill-timed rain shower, Lewis Hamilton’s performance is worth a head-scratching of its own.

Throughout practice, Hamilton displayed a strong pace and had many fans wondering if he hadn’t finally found his footing behind the wheel of the SF-25. He was in conversation for pole, and he looked strong in the first round of qualifying.

But in Q2, it fell apart. Hamilton’s first flying lap left a lot to be desired, and while he improved his time on his second flying lap, it was only good enough for P10. Fernando Alonso knocked him into the drop zone, and Leclerc went on to push his teammate even further, down to 12th.

After the session, Hamilton suggested that Ferrari should have put him on medium tyres for that final Q2 run, but his performance certainly left a lot to be desired.

Winner: F1’s record books

The marathon qualifying session for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix set a multitude of records that will go down in the history books.

First and foremost, it set a new record for the most red flags in a qualifying session. The previous record, five, was held by quali at Imola in 2022 and Sao Paulo in 2024 — but Oscar Piastri’s crash into the wall in the final five minutes of Q3 brought out red flag number six.

But that wasn’t the only notable moment in a frankly chaotic session, one that lasted two hours. If that sounds particularly long, you’d be correct; that’s longer than every other grand prix in 2025.

Carlos Sainz took Williams’ first front-row start in several years, while Liam Lawson snagged a career-best start in third.

Oh, and Max Verstappen? For all of his record-breaking success, this is his very first pole position at the Baku City Circuit.

Loser: Alpine

Qualifying in Baku was messy, but no team seemed quite as messy as Alpine, with both drivers being knocked out of the running in Q1.

Both Alpine teammates were trying to set their final flying laps of the session when Pierre Gasly lost control and ran off the track. His lap was squandered — and just behind him, teammate Franco Colapinto crashed into the barriers when he approached Gasly’s car.

Conditions were tricky, yes, but Alpine simply made itself look foolish during a season that has already been frankly embarrassing.

Read next: Azerbaijan GP: Verstappen on pole as Baku sets red flag record in disaster for Piastri, Ferrari