lewis Hamilton took a brilliant pole position for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix ahead of Valtteri Bottas on Saturday, with Mercedes securing a convincing 1-2 as rival Ferrari lagged behind.
Bottas led qualifying and then set an even quicker time on his final lap - only for Hamilton to beat him by nearly half a second. "There was a lot of pressure with a minute left. It was all or nothing," Hamilton said. "That was one of the most exciting laps I've had all year. I'm so pumped, that's how qualifying should be."
The British driver's 66th pole moves him one ahead of Formula One great Ayrton Senna and just two behind Michael Schumacher's all-time record of 68.
Kimi Raikkonen was more than one second behind Hamilton, qualifying third ahead of his Ferrari teammate Sebastian Vettel, the championship leader.
After three difficult practice sessions, qualifying also proved tough — with Turns 2, 6 and 8 causing most problems. There were close calls for Bottas and Vettel while Force India's Sergio Perez shaved the barriers on the demanding street circuit.
With three minutes remaining a red flag came up, halting the session, after Daniel Ricciardo clipped the wall with the left side of his Red Bull coming out of Turn 6 - prompting an expletive from the Australian driver.
Ricciardo's teammate, Max Verstappen, qualified fifth ahead of Perez.
Force India put strong show
Force India put up a strong showing in the qualifying of the Formula 1 Azerbaijan Grand Prix, where their drivers Sergio Perez and Esteban Ocon set the sixth and seventh fastest time here on Saturday.
The Baku Street Circuit has been a happy hunting ground for Force India, who finished on the podium last year when Perez secured third place. Force India are a comfortable fourth in the team standings with 71 points, ahead of Toro Rosso (29) and Williams (22).