George Russell claimed a dominant pole position for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix as championship leader Kimi Antonelli crashed in Q1 and will start 16th. Russell had been in superb form throughout the three practice sessions and continued his mighty speed in Q3 to beat Ferrari's Charles Leclerc by eighth tenths of a second. Antonelli clipped the inside wall into Turn 1 in Q1 and was told to stop the car in the middle sector, despite his efforts to carry on and get back to the pit lane.

It means Russell has a big opportunity to make significant inroads into his 81-point deficit to Antonelli when the lights go out on Saturday at 12pm (build-up from 10.30am), live on Sky Sports F1 and Sky Sports Main Event. "It's probably the biggest margin of my whole career, even including F2 and F3 days," said Russell, who has not won since June's Austrian Grand Prix. McLaren's Oscar Piastri qualified third, his best result since the Hungarian Grand Prix at the end of July, while Red Bull's Isack Hadjar was fourth on his return from a wrist injury, having missed the last three race weekends. Max Verstappen looked to be a genuine pole threat to Russell but was caught out by yellow flags which Lando Norris caused after locking up into Turn 3 on the last Q3 runs.