Mercedes' George Russell takes thrilling pole for Azerbaijan Grand Prix

George Russell stamped his authority around Baku and cruised to pole position for Saturday's Azerbaijan Grand Prix.

The Mercedes driver was lighting up the timing screens and went fastest in all three sectors to cross the line 0.837 seconds faster than Ferrari's Charles Leclerc.

McLaren's Oscar Piastri edged out Red Bull's Isack Hadjar to the line to go third-fastest.

Lando Norris in the other McLaren stopped at Turn 3 in the final stages of the session and will start in fifth.

Russell's teammate Kimi Antonelli suffered a major blow after hitting the wall and crashing out of Q1. The championship leader will start down in P16.

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Russell has now started on pole five times this season and will be able to capatalise on the gap between himself and Antonelli, who is currently leading the drivers' championship by 81 points.

Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton will start in sixth and was over 1.3 seconds off Russell's pace, with Alpine's Pierre Gasly behind.

Max Verstappen was looking in contention for pole position after topping final practice in his heavily-upgraded Red Bull, but finished in eighth.

Carlos Sainz in the Williams crossed the line in ninth, with Alpine's Franco Colapinto rounding out the top 10.

Antonelli's time in Baku has gone from bad to worse after he suffered a hydraulic leak on his power unit which caused him to lose track running at the end of first practice and the start of second practice on Thursday.

The Azerbaijan Grand Prix starts at 12 p.m. BST / 7 a.m. ET on Saturday.