Azerbaijan Grand Prix qualifying red-flagged as F1 star crashes out after just six minutes

Alex Albon brought out the red flag just six minutes into the first part of qualifying for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. The Williams racer clipped the inside wall at Turn One with his front-left tyre, causing significant suspension damage and bringing his session to a premature end.

Max Verstappen went on to claim pole position for Sunday's Grand Prix, snatching the P1 grid slot away from Albon's Williams team-mate, Carlos Sainz, who was primed for glory after a strong early time. Liam Lawson will start from third after his best-ever F1 qualifying result.

"That was a big whack," Sky Sports F1 pundit Karun Chandhok said after seeing a replay of the incident. "Maybe he just misjudged how much grip he had on the way in and hit the wall." The Thai-British driver responded to the crash with an expletive on the radio, before declaring: "I'm out, sorry."

Albon's crash caught out a rival, too. Mercedes' rookie, Kimi Antonelli, failed to slow down under yellow flags before the red flag was thrown. This caught the attention of the stewards, who placed the 19-year-old under investigation.

After the session resumed, the cars got another five minutes of clean running before the red flag was called back into action. Nico Hulkenberg failed to slow down in time for Turn Four, wedging his Sauber machine into the barrier and bringing Q1 to a halt for the second time.

Fortunately, the 38-year-old was able to back his car out of the barriers and return to the pit lane, albeit without a front wing. His Sauber engineers then completed the necessary repair work during the red flag period, meaning Hulkenberg was able to head out on track for a final attempt at escaping the elimination zone in Q1.

For the latest breaking stories and headlines, sign up to our Daily Express F1 newsletter, or join our WhatsApp community here.

With his final effort, the German racer climbed to 13th place but was quickly relegated back to the bottom five. His team-mate, Gabriel Bortoleto, managed to escape the drop, though, making it 11-6 in the rookie's favour in the qualifying head-to-head battle.

Race control were forced to throw a third red flag before the end of Q1. Pierre Gasly went straight on at Turn Four, scuppering his attempt to escape the bottom five, and this mishap was followed by an even bigger error from team-mate Franco Colapinto at the same spot.

The Argentine racer made it through Turn Four with his team-mate stuck in the run-off, but suffered a lazy spin into the outside barriers on corner exit, destroying his Alpine A525 machine in the process.