After Lewis Hamilton claimed the 66th pole of his Formula One career, ESPN rounds up the main talking points from qualifying in Baku.
Shock: It's funny how quickly things can change in F1 and how a Mercedes front-row lockout in qualifying can be considered a shock. Heading into qualifying in Azerbaijan, no one knew how the battle for pole would unfold. After a relatively uncompetitive Friday practice, particularly for Hamilton, Mercedes produced a remarkable turnaround on Saturday as it turned up the wick and blitzed its rivals.
In truth, qualifying turned out to be another dominant display from the Briton, who left it late but ultimately stormed to his second pole in two races, beating teammate Valtteri Bottas by 0.5s. In doing so, Hamilton has now moved clear of boyhood hero Ayrton Senna's pole tally and is just two poles shy of Michael Schumacher's all-time record of 68.
Shocker: A bad day at the office for Renault. Nico Hulkenberg was hampered by a suspected electrical failure and was unable to progress into Q3 for only the fourth time this year. Not only was Hulkenberg limited to 14th, but his time was a massive 2.3s slower than Max Verstappen's best in Q2, despite having the same Renault engine. For Jolyon Palmer things were even worse.
The under-pressure Briton failed to take part in qualifying after his Renault was engulfed by flames in final practice. The only saving grace for Palmer is that he won't start at the very back of the grid, due to penalties for both Stoffel Vandoorne and Fernando Alonso.
Underachiever: Much was expected of Red Bull after an impressive showing on Friday, though, as has been the case for much of this season, the team's performance faltered somewhat when it came down to it in qualifying. Verstappen, who topped both practice sessions on Friday, could only manage fifth on the grid behind both Ferraris, while there was more disappointment on Daniel Ricciardo's side of the garage. The Australian will line up only 10th after clouting the wall on the exit of Turn 6 in Q3.
Overachiever: Following a testing week for Sauber after the departure of team principal Monisha Kaltenborn, Pascal Wehrlein stepped up to deliver Sauber's fifth Q2 appearance of the season. The German-Mauritian got within 0.4s of Hulkenberg and claimed a solid 15th for the Swiss outfit.
Star of qualifying: Much has been made of whether Lance Stroll deserves his place in F1. The young rookie has endured a difficult start to life in F1 and has received a barrage of criticism so far. Boosted by scoring his first points in F1 in Canada, Stroll put in an impressive performance in qualifying to reach Q3 for only the second time this season, while he also out qualified Williams teammate Felipe Massa for the first time this season.
Turn 1 prediction: Look out for Vettel at the start, who will be keen to make up for a disappointing qualifying on the short run down to Turn 1 and will be looking to jump Ferrari teammate Kimi Raikkonen as soon as possible. We wouldn't expect too many position changes heading into the first corner, however some bumps and barges did occur last year. There is plenty of run-off on the exit of Turn 1 to avoid any drama, though being stuck on the inside line could prove to be a hinderence.