Verstappen on pole in Baku after Piastri and Leclerc crash

BAKU :Max Verstappen put Red Bull on pole position for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix on Saturday after McLaren's Formula One leader Oscar Piastri and Ferrari's Charles Leclerc crashed out of a qualifying session with a record six red flags.

Carlos Sainz put Williams on the front row alongside the four-times world champion on a tough day for runaway leaders McLaren, hoping to clinch the constructors' title for a second year in a row on Sunday and an unprecedented seven rounds remaining.

Piastri, last year's winner in Baku, qualified ninth without setting a time in the final phase after his biggest mistake so far in a campaign otherwise remarkably free of errors.

"I think the win is ambitious but let's wait and see," said Piastri. "The car has been quick this weekend and hopefully we can use that to make progress."

Teammate and title rival Lando Norris, 31 points behind, will start only seventh after going breathtakingly close to hitting the wall and missing a big chance to put distance between himself and the Australian.

Racing Bulls' Liam Lawson qualified a surprise third with Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli fourth in an all-rookie second row on a grid with a distinctly different look even if the pole was a second in a row for Verstappen after Monza.

'VERY DIFFICULT SESSION'

"It was a very difficult session. In the final lap, you just have to send it," said Verstappen after a last effort that was 0.478 quicker than Sainz.

"I wasn’t even on the best tyres that I wanted - because of all the red flags you basically run out of tyres."

Leclerc had been bidding for a fifth successive Baku pole but it all went wrong when the Monegasque speared into the barriers on a track made slippery by rain.

Only three drivers, with Sainz leading Lawson, had set