Red Bull’s Max Verstappen grabbed his sixth pole position of the season for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix with a lap time of 1min 41.117sec after a crash-marred qualifying session in Baku on Saturday. The reigning world champion edged out Carlos Sainz of Williams and Liam Lawson of Racing Bulls in a session which saw seven crashes. 

World championship leader Oscar Piastri crashed in Q3 and will start ninth, two places behind McLaren teammate Lando Norris. “It was difficult to get a lap together, with all the red flags. I wasn’t even on the best tyres. So, I am happy,” he said.