Leclerc storms to Baku pole as Norris suffers shocker

Charles Leclerc has taken pole position for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, beating Oscar Piastri by three-tenths of a second.

It was a disastrous session for the second McLaren of Lando Norris, whose quest for a third consecutive pole position ended with a shock Q1 exit.

Leclerc claimed his third pole of the season with a strong final lap in Q3 to fend off the competition, with team-mate Carlos Sainz over four-tenths down in third place.

Sergio Perez managed to out-qualify team-mate Max Verstappen, with the reigning world champion enduring a difficult session - the duo ended up in fourth and sixth respectively, with George Russell lodged between the two.

Lewis Hamilton was seventh, ensuring the head-to-head qualifying battle at Mercedes goes the way of Russell this year. 

Fernando Alonso followed in eighth while Franco Colapinto and Alex Albon rounded out the top 10 for Williams.

Albon was unable to set a final lap after his warm-up lap was delayed when he entered the circuit with an engine cooler still attached to the car.

Bearman impresses with strong Q2 effort

Oliver Bearman narrowly missed out on a spot in Q3 as he ended the Q2 session in 11th, one-tenth down on a spot in the shootout.

The Haas driver, who is substituting for Kevin Magnussen this weekend, managed to get the better of team-mate Nico Hulkenberg in 14th.

Yuki Tsunoda is set to take tomorrow's race start in 12th ahead of Pierre Gasly imposing himself as the leading Alpine car in 13th.

Lance Stroll was 15th in the second Aston Martin car.

Norris suffers shock Q1 exit

Heading into his final lap at the end of Q1, Norris was in the danger zone, as was team-mate Piastri.

While the latter managed to bank a lap to see him safely through, Norris rode the kerb on the exit of Turn 16, scuppering his exit - however the Briton stated he also had to back off due to a yellow flag deployed in the final sector.

As a result, he pitted and ended the session in 17th place, behind former team-mate Daniel Ricciardo.

A difficult session for Stake saw Bottas and Zhou end the session in 18th and 19th respectively, with the team lacking pace all weekend. Zhou is set to drop to the back of the grid after being fitted with new power unit components. 

Esteban Ocon ended the outing in 20th place having returned to the track following a fuel pump issue during FP3.