The Finn lapped the six-kilometer long Baku street track in one minute, 40.495 seconds, just 0.059 seconds faster than team-mate Lewis Hamilton who completed a front-row lockout for Mercedes
Valtteri Bottas. Pic/AFP
Valtteri Bottas snatched pole position for the Formula One Azerbaijan Grand Prix in an incident-packed qualifying session that saw early Ferrari favourite Charles Leclerc crash out.
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The Finn lapped the six-kilometer long Baku street track in one minute, 40.495 seconds, just 0.059 seconds faster than team-mate Lewis Hamilton who completed a front-row lockout for Mercedes.
Sebastian Vettel, the sole surviving Ferrari after Leclerc's crash was third, 0.302 seconds off Bottas' pace. Ferrari had looked dominant around the streets of Baku with Leclerc topping every practice session in the build up to qualifying.
However, the Monegasque — fired up after being ordered to move over for Vettel in China and denied a maiden Formula One win by engine trouble in Bahrain — crashed out in the second phase of qualifying.
"I deserve what happened today," said Leclerc, who still looks set to start ninth. "I have been stupid, as I said on the radio. Pole was possible today and I threw all the potential in the bin. "So, I am very disappointed and will come back stronger from this."
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