Max Verstappen claimed pole position for Red Bull at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix on Saturday, capping a chaotic qualifying session that featured a record six red flags.

The pole is Verstappen's sixth of the 2025 season – the most of any driver so far this year – despite finding himself nearly 100 points adrift of championship leader Oscar Piastri. 

And he will be joined on the front row by the Williams of Carlos Sainz, who appeared set for a first pole position since October 2024, only for Verstappen to snatch it from him. 

Verstappen has enjoyed a slight revival in form, winning the Italian Grand Prix last time out and recording back-to-back podium finishes for the first time this season. 

Reflecting on Saturday's action, Verstappen conceded that the regular interruptions made it difficult to try and string a solid lap together. 

"[It was] a long qualifying to be honest, with so many red flags so it was very difficult to basically get your lap together," he said. 

"Most of the time, your tyres are not really ready for it or again a red flag, especially with Q3 with a bit of rain. It was a very difficult session.

"In the final lap you just have to send it, I wasn’t even on the best tyres I wanted, but because of the red flags, you basically run out of tyres.

"I'm very happy so far with how the weekend has gone, because from FP1 we were not too bad and we just kept on improving a tiny amount. And then we were there in qualifying and that is when it matters.”

On Sunday’s race, Verstappen added: "It's a long race, you want to have a good start but even then, we just need to do our own race and look after our tyres.

"It's still quite tough on our tyres around here because of the softer compounds, and then we will see what happens."

We had SIX red flags and so much drama in qualifying #F1 #AzerbaijanGP pic.twitter.com/qFuv0d5tdF

— Formula 1 (@F1) September 20, 2025

McLaren's championship duo Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris will start seventh and ninth, respectively, after disappointing runs.

Piastri crashed in the final segment following a restart, while Norris could not deliver a competitive final lap to put the pressure on his title rival.

Sainz had initially looked on course for pole, posting the fastest time of the three drivers who set laps before Ferrari's Charles Leclerc crashed early in the final part of qualifying and will start the race in 10th. 

After the session restarted, Piastri's incident meant Verstappen was the only driver able to improve on Sainz's time in the closing minutes.

Racing Bulls' Liam Lawson will start third, holding the position with the lap he set behind Sainz in the first part of qualifying, with team-mate Isack Hadjar finishing in eighth. 

Mercedes drivers Kimi Antonelli and George Russell finished fourth and fifth, though the Italian now faces an investigation for overtaking under yellow flags during one of the session's numerous incidents. Yuki Tsunoda will line up in sixth.

Lewis Hamilton, meanwhile, could only manage 12th for Ferrari after failing to advance past the second stage of qualifying.

Qualifying Top 10

1. Max Verstappen (Red Bull)

2. Carlos Sainz (Williams)

3. Liam Lawson (Racing Bulls)

4. Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes)

5. George Russell (Mercedes)

6. Yuki Tsunoda (Red Bull)

7. Lando Norris (McLaren)

8. Isack Hadjar (Racing Bulls)

9. Oscar Piastri (McLaren)

10. Charles Leclerc (Ferrari)