2025 F1 Azerbaijan GP: Qualifying Predictions

The first day of running in the F1 Azerbaijan GP is done and dusted. The day saw Lewis Hamilton finish on top of the standings in a session that would have certainly brought a smile to his face.

The British driver ran a different setup than his teammate and would end the day ahead of him. The track at Baku can be quite tricky. You need a perfect balance of a car that works perfectly on the straights and in the twisty middle section.

There's also an outside chance of rain, maybe playing spoilsport, but it doesn't appear to be as big a threat for now. With that being said, what can we expect from the F1 Azerbaijan GP qualifying? Let's take a look.

#5 The tow is going to make or break the session

The dauntingly long straights are such an important part of the entire lap time that you can either make or break your session if you nail them or not. If you end up finding that perfect tow on the straight during your push lap, then the boost is significant.

The same goes for the case where you don't, because that would impact your time as well. We're going to see quite a few drivers make or break their qualifying depending on if they're able to find a tow on their push laps or not.

#4 Ollie Bearman makes it to Q3

Ollie Bearman has often had some special moments around this track, and by the looks of it, there appears to be a scenario where the British driver in his Haas has decent pace for a midfield car. We're picking Ollie Bearman to make it to Q3 in the F1 Azerbaijan GP qualifying.

#3 Yuki Tsunoda won't make it to Q3

The gaps are going to be very small around Baku once again, and when that happens, more often than not the slower driver bears the brunt of it. The F1 Azerbaijan GP qualifying is going to see Yuki be closer to Max, even though he would still end up dropping out before Q3.

#2 The top 4 teams won't be separated by a big margin

It does appear that the gap between the top 4 teams is very small at the front, and it would come down to the driver, the timing at which he's sent out on track, and the positioning.

Ferrari did appear to be one of the teams running a more aggressive power unit mode in FP1 and FP2, but it is still going to be a factor in F1 Azerbaijan GP qualifying.

#1 Charles Leclerc secures pole position for the F1 Azerbaijan GP

This might be a bit of wishful thinking because it does appear that Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton ran a more aggressive power mode on Friday. But it is too hard to count out the Monegasque driver around Baku.

It's going to be a close battle that will feature the McLaren duo, Max Verstappen, and George Russell as well, but we're backing Leclerc to make it five in a row in the F1 Azerbaijan GP qualifying.

Edited by Charanjot Singh Kohli