Rosberg takes Baku pole as Hamilton crashes to tenth place - Nico takes pole as Pérez finishes in second
Published by Christine
Nico Rosberg lucked into pole position for the inaugural F1 race in Baku, after his teammate Lewis Hamilton crashed into the wall and damaged the suspension of his car, bringing out the red flags. He’d had a scrappy session anyway, spinning off in all three of the qualifying stints, and he’ll be starting the race from tenth place.
Sergio Pérez crossed the line for the second fastest time, but takes a five place gearbox-related penalty which will drop him down to second. Force India teammate Nico Hülkenberg was not so impressed with his session, as he backed off his final Q2 lap and missed the cut, complaining loudly over the radio that he should have been told that was his final opportunity, only for his engineer to say he had been informed.
Meanwhile, Daniel Ricciardo and Sebastian Vettel set identical lap times to the thousandth of a second, and only by means of having set his lap time first did Ricciardo secure third place with Vettel settling for fourth.
