Azerbaijan Grand Prix: Qualifying Recap

Ocon exited qualifying in Q1 – the Frenchman taking three sets of Pirelli P Zero Red softs with his fastest lap of 1:43.004, placing him P18. Bearman fared better in the sister VF-25, his quickest time coming on a third and final set of softs to progress into Q2, with a 1:42.666 lap.

Bearman’s qualifying ended abruptly when he hit the wall at Turn 2 on his first push lap – the Q2 accident triggering a red flag stop to retrieve the stricken VF-25. With no time set in the session, the British rookie classified P15.

With qualifying taking nearly two hours to complete and featuring six red flags, pole position finally went to Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen (1:41.117) ahead of Carlos Sainz of Williams (1:41.595).

Ollie Bearman:

“I touched the wall at Turn 2 when trying to get an early lap on the board, as there were lots of interruptions before. Every lap is important - we nearly got thrown out in Q1 because of that – but I unfortunately got caught out by the wind, so I can only say sorry to the team."

Esteban Ocon:

“I was locking up in each of my laps, we had big issues with braking. We had it yesterday, but even more so today, so I’m really disappointed as I think there’s more in the car than that. Today’s disappointing to be where we are, but tomorrow hopefully we’ll come back and take every opportunity that presents itself.”

Ayao Komatsu, Team Principal:
 
“It’s obviously very frustrating to say the least. We’ve had speed all weekend, we’ve shown that, but when it mattered, as a team, we didn’t deliver. Sooner or later we need to deliver, otherwise we’re going to run out of races. I feel that we’re very much out of position for tomorrow, but we’re just going to have to do our best to get into the top 10, it’s just incredibly frustrating.”