George Russell won pole position for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix after championship leader Kimi Antonelli crashed in Q1 and will start only 16th.
The Briton was in excellent form throughout the three practice sessions and carried his speed into Q3, where he beat Ferrari's Charles Leclerc by eight-tenths of a second. Oscar Piastre with McLaren and Isaac Hajar with Red Bull will start from the second row.
The third row will be occupied by world champion Lando Norris with McLaren and Lewis Hamilton with Ferrari. Pierre Gasly with Alpine will start seventh, and in the final session Max Verstappen, who was second in the first two qualifying sessions, failed to improve and was only eighth. Carlos Sainz finished ninth in Williams' first third qualifying appearance of the season, while Franco Colapinto in an Alpine completed the top 10.
Antonelli got caught on the inside wall at Turn 1 in Q1 and was ordered to stop in the middle sector despite his attempts to continue to the pits. This gave Russell a huge opportunity to significantly close his 81-point gap to the Italian in the championship.