During Friday and first part of Saturday Mercedes has remained in the shadow of Ferrari. However, it wasn’t a surprise that in quali they were invincible again. It’s a second in a row pole position for the Finn, the first one he got in China. As Bottas said after the finish he didn’t count on such results.

"After the practice yesterday and this morning we definitely saw Ferrari was extremely quick. Also Red Bull was quick. Going into qualifying it felt kind of out of reach, but you never know what can happen so we don't give up. In the end Charles went off and it was down to one lap at the end."

Besides the pole Valtteri also broke the record of the track – new record time of Baku City circuit is 1.40:495.

Lewis Hamilton, who lost one place to the teammate, has confessed he had “pretty shocking” two corners.

"Valtteri did an exceptional job, it was a great result for us as a team. Coming into this weekend it didn't look like we had the pace. Our race pace looked good but the pace in qualifying didn't look as close as we'd like to the Ferraris.”

"We worked on the car, improved it today. Unfortunately, my first two corners were pretty shocking, I had a small moment in Turn 1 and then Turn 2. Already by Turn 4 I think I was three tenths down. I recovered that in the next two sectors but unfortunately it wasn't enough."


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