That's all from us for today. Here's Andrew Benson's qualifying report and we'll be back at 11:00 BST on SATURDAY for build up to the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.

Join us then!

A final word from George Russell about tomorrow: "I am feeling good but there's some fast drivers around.

"Kimi has started lower down the order before and finished on the top step. I wouldn't take anything for granted."

Image source, Getty Images

Williams' Carlos Sainz speaking to Sky Sports after qualifying P9: "Very happy. Just wanted ti give back a little bit to the factory , all the efforts that we've put into this chassis, the small floor upgrade that we've brought. We're trying to get pout of the hole we've put ourselves in and this is definitely going to boost everyone's morale. Happy because I've done some really good laps today. Yesterday we didn't look like a Q3 car but today from run one of Q1, I've done really solid laps and I really put in a serious lap at the end of Q2 and a serious lap at the end of Q3 to get P9."

On the likelihood of points: "It will be very tough. Franco behind will be quicker tomorrow so that will leave us P10 and then lets see who's coming. I'll take the positives which is we managed to put the car in Q3 for the first time this year."

Image source, Getty Images

Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton to Sky Sports after qualifying sixth: "It was pretty bad. Qualifying once again. It's not for the lack of trying.

"Q1 and Q2 were pretty OK. At least Q1 was pretty decent. In Q2, we struggled a bit more and then as we went into Q3 they changed the plan. Instead of doing two runs, we ended up waiting and because I was ahead of Charles, I had nobody ahead of me for the tow.

"We just couldn't compete with the Mercedes. They're just outright so much quicker on the straights. They did a great job."

Max Verstappen, who qualified eighth quickest: "The whole qualifying I was lacking top speed. The engine was just not working. That was one problem and then in Q3 I was about to start my middle lap but the battery didn't charge, so you start a lap with half a battery so you have to abort and then you lose temperature because you don't have enough power basically. It then snowballs into the final lap. Again no top speed and a yellow flag in my lap. That's where you are.

"I have no idea for tomorrow. We were in a really good place all weekend but then had a disaster of a qualifying because of a lot of issues. Let's see what we can do."

Image source, Getty Images

McLaren's Lando Norris speaking to Sky Sprts after qualifying P5 for the Azerbaijan GP: "Qualifying was working well to be honest. Oscar is P3, I think P2 was possible. I felt confident in the car to be honest, I just pushed the braking a bit too much. I'd rather die trying to get a pole than settle for a 3rd, 4th, 5th etc. I'd rather put together a perfect lap than an average lap and I paid the price for that. The car's not bad, we're just a long way off. Especially my car is a long way off in the straights. It's limiting because there's lots of straights here.

"Of course I hope for a podium but with my straight line speed it will be impossible."

Image source, Getty Images

Championship leader Kimi Antonelli speaking to Sky Sports after crashing out of qualifying: "The group was coming up very quickly lap by lap. Obviously I turned in and suddenly I had a lot more front end than the lap before and touched the wall. Mistake from my side. Very unnecessary. I'm very mad about it and we'll try to do better tomorrow.

"The car has been very strong this weekend. George has been doing incredibly well but we'll try our best to recover as many places as possible."

Image source, Getty Images

McLaren's Oscar Piastri speaking after qualifying P3: "It was good. Qualifying we found a bit of pace. It's not the first time it's happened this year we seem like we're a bit on the back foot in practice and then we come out in qualifying with that bit extra. I was pretty surprised to see us P1 and P2 after the first lap in Q3 but unfortunately we had no hope against George. Happy with how the weekend's gone so far. Never easy around here especially with the wind today. Happy to be back in the top three."

On the challenge of the wind: "Honestly trying to keep it between the lines is not easy. It always sounds so dull talking about the wind in Formula 1 cars. Even when the walls disappear and you get a bit more open you get a massive gust, so it's not easy at all. There's 30-40 kph difference between laps so you've got to stay on your toes."

Image source, Getty Images

More from Leclerc: "Overall, we've been on the back foot all weekend. We kind of expected to be very far off after a difficult Friday but this morning I had a little bit more hope.

"The pace has been quite strong in FP1 for the high fuel so I hope that will be the case tomorrow."

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Ferrari's Charles Leclerc, who qualified in P2: "Honestly, it was quite a good lap.

"Lewis was in front, and I managed to do a good lap but when I see the gap to George, maybe the lap wasn't good enough.

"In terms of position, that is where we expected to be but in terms of gap, that is quite big. Our straight-line speed is not our strength."

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More from polesitter George Russell: "I'm feeling good. I think we're in a great place to go for a win. Of course this is Baku and anything can happen. Charles is probably going to be motivated to throw one down the inside at Turn One. Whatever happens I feel confident that we can go for the win."

Image source, Getty Images

Mercedes' George Russell speaking after securing pole position: "It's been a while so it definitely feels good. This was probably the biggest pole margin of my whole career, including my F2 and F3 days.

"The lap felt really sweet, car's been feeling really great this weekend. On a track like this where you can hug it, it feels amazing. I was feeling good.

"Max was very fast this weekend, I don't know what happened at the end, maybe with the yellow flag at the end he didn't get the last chance so would have been interesting to see.

"Perfect lap in the end, I was in a nice gap to Hadjar which gave me a nice little slipstream by probably another tenth or two."

Mr Saturday is now Mr Friday after George Russell's monster lap there secured pole position. He was eight tenths quicker than Charles Leclerc.

Marc Priestley
Former F1 mechanic on Sports Extra in Baku

Red Bull got this session wrong. Not only by not helping each other but also by giving Russell an advantage.

A poor lap from Max Verstappen and he can only go eighth quickest!

Marc Priestley
Former F1 mechanic on Sports Extra in Baku

Ironically Hadjar is helping Russell the most!

Harry Benjamin
BBC F1 Commentator in Baku

I don't understand why Red Bull aren't maneuvering this better with their two drivers. Verstappen is miles away from Hadjar.

Yellow flagpublished at 14:05 BST 25 September

14:05 BST 25 September

Lando Norris stops at Turn 3 as George Russell goes even quicker thanks to the tow! It is a 1:42.526, almost a second quicker than anyone else!