Qualifying for the 2024 F1 Azerbaijan Grand Prix concluded at the Baku City Circuit on the evening of September 14 (China Standard Time, UTC+8). Charles Leclerc claimed Baku pole for the fourth consecutive year with a dominant 1m41.365s lap, while Oscar Piastri took second to secure a front-row place for McLaren. Yuki Tsunoda was 12th, while title contender Lando Norris suffered a shock Q1 exit in 16th. Pierre Gasly was also disqualified from qualifying after the session for exceeding the fuel-flow limit.
Baku is one of the most unforgiving circuits on the calendar: taking the most aggressive lines on a qualifying lap can lead to a crash at any moment—wall impacts had already triggered three red flags across the first three practice sessions. The battle for pole ultimately came down to Leclerc and Piastri: the latter beat Carlos Sainz to prevent a Ferrari front-row lockout and will line up alongside Leclerc on the front row for the race. Sainz was third, with Sergio Pérez just behind him, only 0.061 seconds ahead of George Russell.
The “Pérez is faster” storyline played out once again at Red Bull: Max Verstappen ran over the Turn 16 kerb on his first flying lap in Q3, badly unsettling the car. Although he improved his best time on his final lap, he was still only sixth—the first time he had been outqualified by his team-mate since the 2023 Miami Grand Prix. Lewis Hamilton was seventh and Fernando Alonso eighth.
Norris’s unexpected exit was the biggest story of qualifying: in the closing stages of Q1, his flying lap was disrupted by a yellow flag triggered by Esteban Ocon, leaving him only 16th and eliminated. Williams, meanwhile, had a long-awaited reason to celebrate—Franco Colapinto reached Q3 in only the second Grand Prix of his career and will start ninth. But team-mate Alex Albon suffered an unusual mishap: when he left the garage for his final Q3 lap, an airbox cooling fan was still attached to the car. He had to pull it off by hand while seated in the cockpit and, as a result, failed to cross the start line before the chequered flag. He placed tenth, and the team were also fined for the incident.
Tsunoda eased through Q1 in 11th, 0.210 seconds ahead of team-mate Daniel Ricciardo, but missed out on Q3 by 0.195 seconds in Q2 and ultimately placed 12th; Ricciardo was eliminated in 15th. Oliver Bearman, standing in for Kevin Magnussen, missed Q3 by just 0.1 seconds and took 11th ahead of team-mate Nico Hülkenberg (13th). Gasly had initially set the 13th-fastest time in Q2, but post-session scrutineering found that his car’s instantaneous fuel flow had exceeded the limit. His qualifying result was annulled, and he will start the race from the back of the grid. Lance Stroll went out in Q2 in 14th, while Valtteri Bottas, Zhou Guanyu and Ocon were eliminated in Q1.
| Position | Car no. | Driver | Team | Q1 time | Q2 time | Q3 time | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 16 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | 1:42.775 | 1:42.056 | 1:41.365 | 20 |
| 2 | 81 | Oscar Piastri | McLaren | 1:43.033 | 1:42.598 | 1:41.686 | 19 |
| 3 | 55 | Carlos Sainz | Ferrari | 1:43.357 | 1:42.503 | 1:41.805 | 23 |
| 4 | 11 | Sergio Pérez | Red Bull | 1:43.213 | 1:42.263 | 1:41.813 | 15 |
| 5 | 63 | George Russell | Mercedes | 1:43.139 | 1:42.329 | 1:41.874 | 20 |
| 6 | 1 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | 1:43.097 | 1:42.042 | 1:42.023 | 20 |
| 7 | 44 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1:43.089 | 1:42.765 | 1:42.289 | 22 |
| 8 | 14 | Fernando Alonso | Aston Martin | 1:43.472 | 1:42.426 | 1:42.369 | 19 |
| 9 | 43 | Franco Colapinto | Williams | 1:43.138 | 1:42.473 | 1:42.530 | 20 |
| 10 | 23 | Alex Albon | Williams | 1:42.899 | 1:42.840 | 1:42.859 | 19 |
| 11 | 50 | Oliver Bearman | Haas | 1:43.471 | 1:42.968 | – | 14 |
| 12 | 22 | Yuki Tsunoda | RB | 1:43.337 | 1:43.035 | – | 16 |
| DQ | 10 | Pierre Gasly | Alpine | – | – | – | 0 |
| 13 | 27 | Nico Hülkenberg | Haas | 1:43.101 | 1:43.191 | – | 14 |
| 14 | 18 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin | 1:43.370 | 1:43.404 | – | 14 |
| 15 | 3 | Daniel Ricciardo | RB | 1:43.547 | – | – | 9 |
| 16 | 4 | Lando Norris | McLaren | 1:43.609 | – | – | 7 |
| 17 | 77 | Valtteri Bottas | Sauber | 1:43.618 | – | – | 7 |
| 18 | 24 | Zhou Guanyu | Sauber | 1:44.246 | – | – | 10 |
| 19 | 31 | Esteban Ocon | Alpine | 1:44.504 | – | – | 8 |
