Daniel Ricciardo crashes out in chaotic qualifying session

Daniel Ricciardo was claimed by the wall at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix — and a rival has delivered a thinly-veiled swipe at his abilities.

Ricciardo crashes out in Q2 at Baku.

There was mayhem at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix on Saturday night with multiple cars crashing throughout a chaotic qualifying session in Baku.

Aussie Daniel Ricciardo was one of the main culprits as red flags threatened to ruin qualifying and he appeared to be the target of some stinging words from world championship-winning driver Fernando Alonso.

Lance Stroll and Antonio Giovinazzi first collided with the wall at Turn 15 in Q1, forcing them out of qualifying and sending their car to the back of the grid for Sunday’s race.

Stream Every Practice, Qualifier & Race of the 2021 FIA Formula One World Championship™ Live & On-Demand on Kayo. New to Kayo? Try 14-Days Free Now >

Ricciardo unfortunately suffered the same fate late in Q2, crashing into the wall at Turn 3.

“Big disappointment for Daniel and for us, especially after the step forward we saw we could do this weekend,” McLaren chief Andreas Seidl told Sky Sports.

Ricciardo’s blunder ruined the flying lap of veteran driver Sebastian Vettel, who voiced his frustration after being informed he had finished P11.

Daniel Ricciardo is in the wall. No!. This sucks pic.twitter.com/8Dmeh4KLYA

— Shloke Sarkar (@ShlokeSrkr) June 5, 2021

Can Ricciardo just catch a break man! 🥺😭 #AzerbaijanGP#F1

— Hulisani Ravele (@HulisaniRavele) June 5, 2021

Ricciardo will start from 13th on the grid.

“Big disappointment for Daniel and for us, especially after the step forward we saw we could do this weekend,” McLaren chief Andreas Seidl told Sky Sports.

Ricciardo’s blunder ruined the flying lap of veteran driver Sebastian Vettel, who voiced his frustration after being informed he had finished P11.

Daniel Ricciardo is in the wall. No!. This sucks pic.twitter.com/8Dmeh4KLYA

— Shloke Sarkar (@ShlokeSrkr) June 5, 2021

Can Ricciardo just catch a break man! 🥺😭 #AzerbaijanGP#F1

— Hulisani Ravele (@HulisaniRavele) June 5, 2021

Alonso said after the final session he was frustrated at not being able to find his rythm as a result of the red flags and appeared to take it personally.

“I think the people need to calm down a little bit and drive 98 per cent in a street circuit because if you crash and you start last in the race, maybe you don’t drive over your possibilities,” he said.

“And I think today with so many people driving over the possibilities of their car or their abilities.”

He suggested it is not fair that teams with drivers that crashed out are able to modify their cars for the start of the race, while none of their rivals are able to tough their set-ups.

Meanwhile, Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc secured pole position ahead of Sunday’s race, with reigning F1 champion Lewis Hamilton joining him on the front row.

Q1

It was Lance Stroll who fell victim first to the infamous Turn 15, as the Canadian locked up before clattering his front-right wheel into the barrier and causing a red flag.

Barely a minute had passed before Stroll crashed into the barrier.

No, no, no. 😩

— Aston Martin Cognizant F1 Team (@AstonMartinF1) June 5, 2021

Stroll’s crash gifted Williams driver George Russell and his team of mechanics a golden opportunity to get his car ready after losing power and leaking oil. The car required a full power unit change, and the gravity of the situation required the mechanics of Russell’s teammate, Nicholas Latifi, to pitch in and help get the car ready for qualifying.

It was nothing short of a herculean effort from all involved to get Russell’s car on the track to give him a fighting chance in qualifying. The Brit has never been out-qualified by his teammate and will look to continue that trend in Baku.

Alfa Romeo’s Antonio Giovinazzi also fell foul of Turn 15, and eliminated himself from qualifying just six minutes into the first session.

🚩 RED FLAG 🚩

Turn 15 bites again 💥

Giovinazzi is the latest driver to find the Baku barriers ❌#AzerbaijanGP 🇦🇿 #F1pic.twitter.com/EjqPHiaWAG

— Formula 1 (@F1) June 5, 2021

Stroll and Giovinazzi will start at the back of the grid, much to the chagrin of their team principals and their respective mechanics.

Ten drivers were fortunate enough to clock times before Giovinazzi eliminated himself from the qualifying proceedings.

But for the remaining eight, it was last chance saloon as the allotted time provided only one meaningful chance to post a competitive qualifying time.

Q2

Q2 got off to a heated start right from the pits.

Red Bull’s Sergio Perez was preparing to exit the pits, but the Aston Martin of Sebastian Vettel nipped right in front of him, and the Mexican was none too pleased about it.

I see a fine in someone’s future. #AzerbaijanGP#F1@[e-mail]/2LU4FWU5fP

— Jeff Pappone 🇨🇦 (@jpappone) June 5, 2021

For a fleeting moment, it seemed as if Esteban Ocon’s car would also share a similar fate to Stroll and Giovinazzi, but his wheels barely kissed the barrier and emerged relatively unscathed.

And with less than one minute remaining in the session, Ricciardo crashed his McLaren into the wall at Turn 3, prompting yet another red flag.

Q3

If you thought the mayhem would stop in Q3, you’d be sorely mistaken.

Yet another two cars ended up damaged in the wall at Turn 15, with AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda and Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz forcing a fourth red flag in Baku.

The late chaos meant that for a second consecutive race, Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc clinched pole position with the assistance of red flags.

“It was quite a s**t lap I thought,” Leclerc said after the session.

“I did not expect to be as competitive as we are today, I thought I was improving before the red flag — but I’m happy anyway.”

Meanwhile, Red Bull’s Max Verstappen was in the middle of a very quick lap when the session prematurely ended, almost certainly denying him pole position.

“Stupid qualifying to be honest. Anyway, it is what it is,” Verstappen fumed.

“All this s**t is all the time happening, but I don’t care … It’s a street circuit so this can happen.”

The fourth red flag during qualifying equalled the all-time record for a Formula 1 session.

The fourth red flag of the session brought qualifying to a premature end 🚩

Both Tsunoda and Sainz had separate incidents at Turn 3 ❌#AzerbaijanGP 🇦🇿 #F1pic.twitter.com/8TB6jGIBoV

— Formula 1 (@F1) June 5, 2021

Azerbaijan Grand Prix Grid

1st row: Charles Leclerc (Red Bull) / Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes)

2nd row: Max Verstappen (Red Bull) / Pierre Gasly (AlphaTauri)

3rd row: Carlos Sainz (Ferrari) / Lando Norris (McLaren)

4th row: Sergio Perez (Red Bull) / Yuki Tsunoda (AlphaTauri)

5th row: Fernando Alonso (Alpine) / Valtteri Bottas (Mercedes)

6th row: Sebastian Vettel (Aston Martin) / Esteban Ocon (Alpine)

7th row: Daniel Ricciardo (McLaren) / Kimi Raikkonen (Alfa Romeo)

8th row: George Russell (Williams) / Nicholas Latifi (Williams)

9th row: Mick Schumacher (Haas) / Nikita Mazepin (Haas)

10th row: Antonio Giovinazzi (Alfa Romeo) / Lance Stroll (Aston Martin).