Baku – Q1: The two Red Bulls in the lead, Stroll in the wall

At the end of the 18 minutes of Q1, both Red Bull finished at the top of the timesheet. Max Verstappen set the best time in 1'42″722, 11 thousandths ahead of Sergio Pérez. Both Ferrari finish just behind, with Charles Leclerc 3th and Carlos Sainz 4e.

The session was disrupted by a red flag two minutes from the end of Q1, after a crash. Lance stroll (Aston Martin) at turn 2. The Canadian wanted to do too much and hit the wall on the outside, broken wing and suspension. A few seconds earlier, Stroll had already experienced a mishap at turn 7, at the entrance to the winding section. The Aston Martin driver had locked the wheels before hitting the Tecpros.

Stroll is ok but there is debris strewn across the track

The Q1 clock has stopped with 2m 30s remaining ⏱#AzerbaijanGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/VJFWfMue9W

— Formula 1 (@F1) June 11, 2022

With 2:30 minutes remaining on the clock, the drivers in danger immediately left the pits. A real race against time where everyone at the back of the peloton hampered themselves in their last flying lap. The eliminated are Kevin Magnussen (Haas), Alex Albon (Williams), Nicholas latifi (Williams), Lance Stroll (Aston Martin) and Mick Schumacher (Haas).

Note that almost all the drivers improved on their second or third lap on the same tires. A trend that we could see again during the next two sessions.

Those eliminated in Q1: 

16) Magnussen – 17) Albon – 18) Latifi – 19) Stroll – 20) Schumacher