Russell takes pole in Baku as Antonelli out after hitting wall

George Russell took an imperious pole position for Mercedes at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix as his team-mate and championship leader Kimi Antonelli crashed out.

Russell beat Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc by a massive 0.837 seconds while Antonelli, who leads the Britain by 81 points in the championship, will start in 16th.

The Italian hit the inside wall at Turn One in the first session and was knocked out.

McLaren’s Oscar Piastri was third ahead of Red Bull’s Isack Hadjar and McLaren’s Lando Norris.

Lewis Hamilton, compromised by running without a tow from another car, was sixth, ahead of the Alpine of Pierre Gasly and Red Bull’s Max Verstappen.

With a tow or slipstream worth as much as 0.5 seconds, Verstappen was following Norris on their final laps when the Briton made a mistake and went off track.

That scuppered Verstappen’s chances of competing at the front.

But although the four-time champion had looked capable of contending for the front row, Russell was in a league of his own.

On a weekend in which Antonelli’s running has been compromised by reliability problems that meant he missed out on half the possible running on Thursday, Russell absolutely delivered on Mercedes’ dominant position on this unique track.

Russell has looked comfortable all weekend and never looked in danger of being beaten for pole, his first since the Austrian Grand Prix at the end of June.

“That’s probably the biggest margin I’ve had in my whole career,” Russell said. “The lap felt really sweet and the car has been feeling great all weekend.”