Finland’s Bottas takes pole in Baku GP

Valtteri Bottas has qualified in pole position for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix after a crash involving Charles Leclerc helped to ensure one of the longest qualifying sessions in recent years.

Bottas’ last lap of the session was one minute, 40.495 seconds, leaving him 0.059 ahead of teammate and championship leader Lewis Hamilton on Saturday.

Sebastian Vettel was third, 0.302 off Bottas’ time. Australian Daniel Ricciardo was down in 12th place another 2.018 off the pace.

Leclerc had been fastest in all three practice sessions but crashed his Ferrari and qualified 10th.

Robert Kubica’s miserable comeback season for Williams continued as he qualified last and crashed at the same spot as Leclerc, a narrow section by the old city walls. The two incidents caused lengthy delays for barrier repairs.

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