Portugal Colonial - 'Perfect lap' gives Russell pole for Azerbaijan GP as Antonelli crashes out

The 28-year-old Briton clocked a best lap in one minute and 42.526 seconds to beat nearest rival Charles Leclerc of Ferrari by 0.837 seconds in windy conditions on the demanding streets of Baku.

It was his first pole since the Austrian Grand Prix in June and the 12th of his career, boosting slim hopes that he can catch the young Italian who leads him by 81 points in the drivers' title race.

Antonelli crashed during the first Q1 part of qualifying, hitting the inside of Turn One heavily and suffering car damage that ended his part in the session. He ended up qualifying 16th.

Russell had never qualified better than fifth before in Baku, but drove with great confidence to establish his street credibility in commanding style.

"It's been a while," he said. "And it definitely feels good. That's probably the biggest margin of my whole career, even in the F2 and F3 days.

"So the lap felt really sweet and on a track like this when you can hug it up like that. So, it's amazing.

"I was feeling good. It was the perfect lap at the end. I got a little slipstream from (Isack) Hadjar which got me another tenth or two."

- 'Fairly big job' -

McLaren's Oscar Piastri was third ahead of Isack Hadjar, back for Red Bull after breaking his wrist, world champion Lando Norris, seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton in the second Ferrari and Alpine's Pierre Gasly.

Four-time champion Max Verstappen was eighth ahead of Williams Carlos Sainz, who clocked his first top 10 qualification this year, and Franco Colapinto in the second Alpine.

"Honestly, it was quite a good lap," said Leclerc, who enjoyed slipstreaming help from his teammate Hamilton.

"Lewis was a few seconds in front and I managed to do a good lap at the end, but when I see the gap to George maybe it wasn't good enough... Our straight-line speed is not our strength."

Russell's lap-time advantage was the biggest since the 2003 Canadian Grand Prix.

The biggest talking point other than Russell's outstanding performance was the sight of his 20-year-old Antonelli clipping the wall in Q1 and picking up a puncture, his first crash since final practice in Australia.

The 20-year-old Italian wanted to continue but race engineer Pete Bonnington overruled him, telling him it was a "fairly big job" and to come into the pits.

It was the first time this season that Antonelli, who is romping away at the top of the championship with an 81-point lead over Russell, failed to reach Q3.

He had already qualified for Q2 but had to settle for sitting on his helmet and watching on.

He will line up in 16th but that is unlikely to deter him. Three weeks ago in Monza he came from 19th to take the chequered flag.

The grand prix is being run on Saturday, rather than the usual Sunday, because September 27 is a national day of remembrance in Azerbaijan.

J.Pereira--PC