
Sebastian Vettel has claimed pole position for the 2018 Azerbaijan Grand Prix after beating World Championship rival and Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton by just under 2-tenths of a second. Mercedes team-mate Valtteri Bottas will start from third place, with Red Bull driver Daniel Ricciardo in fourth with team-mate Verstappen next behind in fifth. Kimi Raikkonen, meanwhile, will start from sixth after making a mistake on his second lap in turn 16 (which is effectively the final braking point) and potentially cost him pole position as he was fastest of anybody in the first two sectors.
The Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull drivers except for Ferrari driver Kimi Raikkonen will all be starting on the super-soft tyres, with the Finn starting on the ultra-softs.
Starting grid:
Sebastian Vettel - Ferrari
Lewis Hamilton - Mercedes
Valtteri Bottas - Mercedes
Daniel Ricciardo - Red Bull Racing-TAG Heuer
Max Verstappen - Red Bull Racing-TAG Heuer
Kimi Raikkonen - Ferrari
Esteban Ocon - Force India-Mercedes
Sergio Perez - Force India-Mercedes
Carlos Sainz - Renault
Lance Stroll - Williams-Mercedes
Sergey Sirotkin - Williams-Mercedes
Fernando Alonso - McLaren-Renault
Charles Leclerc - Sauber-Ferrari
Nico Hulkenberg - Renault (5-place grid penalty, gearbox change)
Kevin Magnussen - Haas-Ferrari
Stoffel Vandoorne - McLaren-Renault
Pierre Gasly - Scuderia Toro Rosso-Honda
Marcus Ericsson - Sauber-Ferrari
Brendon Hartley - Scuderia Toro Rosso-Honda
Romain Grosjean - Haas-Ferrari