Antonelli crashes, Piastri stars as ‘Baku curse’ strikes again

George Russell will start on pole position for Saturday night’s Azerbaijan Grand Prix after braining the field on a day his Mercedes teammate and runaway championship leader Kimi Antonelli crashed out.

Russell finished the session 0.837 quicker than Ferrari ace Charles Leclerc. It’s the biggest qualifying margin since Max Verstappen took pole by 1.244 seconds in a wet session at the 2023 Canadian Grand Prix.

Oscar Piastri put in a strong performance to qualify third at the track where his world championship charge properly derailed 12 months ago.

Piastri crashed in the final part of qualifying, and then the opening lap of the race. Antonelli’s crash just minutes into the opening part of qualifying triggered suggestions from fans of the existence of a ‘Baku curse’.

The Italian hit the inside wall at the apex of turn one and destroyed his suspension. He tried to drive the car back to the pits, but was told by race engineer Peter Bonnington to park the car.

He watched the remainder of the session from the side of the track, watching his teammate obliterate the field. Russell was fastest in two of the three practice sessions and all three parts of qualifying.

“Very unnecessary mistake,” Antonelli conceded after the session.

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“Obviously, I misjudged with the grip being so different compared to the first lap.

“It’s a good way to come back to earth and to remind myself that I need to be on top of it every time, because otherwise I do these mistakes and a very stupid one.”

The Italian won his home race only three weeks ago from 19th on the grid. The Mercedes is widely regarded as the best power unit on the grid, and the long straights into heavy braking zones of the Baku circuit will give Antonelli plenty of chances to fight back through the pack.

“I’m looking forward to tomorrow. Hopefully, we can recover many places. The car is quick. We’re ready to do our best. Hopefully, tomorrow is going to be a good race,” he said.

Piastri meanwhile showed a return to form at a track he admitted earlier this week he had a "love-hate" relationship with.

The Aussie sat on top of the time sheets after the opening runs in the final part of qualifying, and looked a chance to take a shock pole before Russell's stunning final lap.

He ended up third, just 0.001 slower than Leclerc. On his return from a three-race layoff with a wrist injury, Isack Hadjar was fourth for Red Bull, ahead of Norris in fifth. Verstappen was only 8th after his final flying lap was dudded by a yellow flag when Norris went up an escape road.

A three-five represents a stunning turnaround for the McLaren team which spent much of the opening two practice sessions with both cars in the garage with technical gremlins.

Mechanics were even spotted using cable ties to keep the cars together.

“Yes, it’s been not an easy weekend from a few areas. We’ve not been particularly quick,” Piastri said.

“We’re also running cable ties on our car through (Thursday), which is never a great sign. So, it’s been a little bit of a tricky one for us.

“But it’s not the first time this year that we get to qualifying, we take all the fuel out and the car just comes alive more.

“Clearly compared to George and Mercedes, we’re still a long way off. But it’s certainly not the first time where we get to qualifying and things look a bit brighter.

“So, happy with how we’ve tried to evolve this weekend. It’s certainly not been easy to get the most out of this car around here with how much you have to push and, obviously, the consequences.

“So, to end up P3 is a really good result.”

It’s Piastri’s equal-best qualifying result this season, having also started third in Japan and Italy.

The Azerbaijan Grand Prix gets underway at 9pm Saturday night. The race is being held on a Saturday to avoid a clash with the country's national Remembrance Day on Sunday.