The Latest Breaking News from Oscar Piastri McLaren

Verstappen grabbed the lead from third on the grid after powering past the Ferraris that had locked out the front row. His team-mate Sergio Perez tried to follow him around the outside of the first corner, but bounced off Charles Leclerc’s Ferrari and was forced out of the race.

McLaren’s Lando Norris grabbed the lead from Ferrari’s poleman Charles Leclerc on the dash to the first corner, and pulled clear out front as Verstappen worked his way forward from sixth on the grid.

Leclerc will start ahead of Sergio Perez (Red Bull) and Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) after the one-hour qualifying session, which is split into three segments with five cars each being knocked out in Q1 and Q2 before the top 10 shootout of Q3.

Leclerc will start ahead of Sergio Perez (Red Bull) and Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) after the one-hour qualifying session, which is split into three segments with five cars each being knocked out in Q1 and Q2 before the top-10 shootout of Q3.

George Russell’s Mercedes was quickest in a rain-impacted Free Practice 1, before Leclerc set the fastest time of the day in a dry FP2 at 1m17.686s, 0.015s quicker than Lando Norris (McLaren) and Pierre Gasly (Alpine).

Despite losing the lead at the start to McLaren’s Lando Norris, Verstappen passed him after five laps and scored yet another victory – surprisingly his first with the British GP title – despite a safety car interruption.

Verstappen was quickest in FP1 and FP2, setting the fastest time of the day at 1m28.078s, just 0.022s quicker than Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz, while Alex Albon shone for Williams.

At the start of the 60-minute session, AlphaTauri’s Nyck de Vries set the first-place benchmark at 1m17.918s during the opening laps using the prototype compound construction set to become standard across Pirelli’s range from the upcoming British GP, which several other runners sampled early on too.

Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc took pole position in Baku for the third year in a row at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix on Friday with a scorching lap that ended Red Bull’s run of qualifying domination.