Sebastian Vettel ready for ‘intense’ race against Lewis Hamilton after claiming F1 pole at Azerbaijan Grand Prix

Ferrari took charge once again but Lewis Hamilton has his best chance since Australia of stemming the red tide that has swamped the Silver Arrows this season

(Getty Images)

Sebastian Vettel and Ferrari took their third consecutive pole position of 2018 in a wind-affected qualifying here in Baku on Saturday afternoon, but with a close second place on the grid and his Mercedes team-mate Valtteri Bottas riding shotgun in third, Lewis Hamilton has his best chance since Australia of stemming the red tide that has swamped the Silver Arrows this season.

Ferrari and Red Bull showed pace all weekend as Mercedes struggled yet again to optimise their tyre performance in practice. But Hamilton was in the mix all through the three qualifying sessions, in which changing wind direction kept the drivers on their toes.

Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen set the pace in the first session, from Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, Hamilton, Vettel and Chinese GP winner Daniel Ricciardo, all of then running Pirelli’s softest, ultrasoft, tyre compound.

Hamilton was fastest in the second session, when all the main runners reverted to the more durable supersofts on which they must start Sunday’s race. But after two trips down escape roads Raikkonen got it together literally in the dying seconds to dislodge the Mercedes driver by a tenth of a second as Bottas, Verstappen, the impressive Esteban Ocon of Force India, and Vettel followed.

Ricciardo, meanwhile, had been lucky to keep 10th place and a spot in the final session, after touching the wall in Turn 15, while Raikkonen was only sixth, suddenly a whole second adrift of his team-mate.

Vettel really hit his stride in the first runs on the final session, lapping in 1m 41.498s to go 0.342s ahead of Hamilton, with Bottas third. Neither of the Ferraris improved on their final runs. Vettel pushed a little too hard and locked up approaching Turn 3, while Raikkonen had a massive tank-slapper, which he was lucky to get away with, just when he seemed set to jump ahead of the German. Instead, he remained sixth.

“The car felt good in Q1 and Q2,” Vettel said. “Today I had the confidence in it that I was missing yesterday, and when that clicks it becomes so enjoyable. In the last sector of quallie I had a car that did what I wanted to get a good lap together. I was very happy with my first lap, but there were just tiny bits where it was not quite perfect. On the second run I was a little bit faster, but then I locked up the brakes going into Turn 3 and that caught me by surprise. I had to think whether to go straight on up the escape road, or try to carry on. Fortunately, that first lap was good enough.”

Both Mercedes did improve, however, but not enough to stop Vettel keeping his 53rd pole position. Hamilton lapped in 1m 41.677s to finish just 0.179s adrift, with Bottas backing him with 1m 41.837s. Ricciardo was the other star, jumping ahead of Verstappen, with 1m 41.911s to his team-mate’s 1m 41.994s.

Sebastian Vettel snakes through the Old City (Getty Images) (AFP/Getty Images)

Behind Raikkonen, Ocon’s impressive form continued as the young French star put his Force India seventh on 1m 42.523s ahead of team-mate Sergio Perez on 1m 42.547s. For a team yet to optimise their aerodynamics, this was a noteworthy performance given how close the midfield has been all season.

Hamilton now looks forward to challenging once again for victory, after struggling in Bahrain and China.

“We did the best job we could,” he said. “It was very, very close. Ferrari were fast all weekend and they have a phenomenal car, but a great job from our team helped us to understand where we were struggling yesterday and to make progress. The car was much more reasonable today and it’s definitely a positive to have me and Valtteri up here.”

In last year’s race Hamilton was leading, under a Safety Car, when the German memorably collided with him deliberately after incorrectly believing that he had been brake tested.

This year Ferrari have the upper hand, but as everyone struggled with crosswinds which came between buildings along the very long main straight the circuit which threw up such a remarkable race in 2017 could be set for more drama.

“It’s not that long a run down to Turn 1,” Vettel said, “so we should be okay, but it will be an intense race and a Safety Car is very, very likely. But though I was a little bit disappointed with my last lap this afternoon, we have a great car for tomorrow.”

“Hopefully it’ll be fun and challenging” Hamilton said. “I’m told this is the fifth best track to overtake on, so I’m going to do my best to give Seb a hard time tomorrow. I have no idea what’s in store for us, but hope it’ll be exciting and that we’ll be up there fighting with Ferrari and Red Bull.”