Charles Leclerc on pole for the F1 GP of Azerbaijan while Lando Norris fights his way to 17th place | Formula 1

After a run of successes brought Lando Norris within touching distance of Max Verstappen for the World Championship, the British driver was made aware of the difficulty of the task ahead in qualifying for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. Norris' title hopes were dealt a severe blow by a 17th-place finish in Baku, leaving his McLaren team furious with the FIA.

Charles Leclerc took pole for Ferrari with an impressive and dominant lap, his fourth in a row at the track and his best chance yet to convert one into his first win on the city streets – but behind him the bigger picture for the season was hastily redrawn. Verstappen, who is 62 points ahead of Norris with eight races remaining, looks set to extend his lead once again. That the Dutchman only finished sixth is little consolation for the heartbroken Norris, who will start from 16th after Esteban Ocon was disqualified from 13th for a fuel flow violation.

Before the weekend, talk around McLaren had been dominated by the proposed use of team instructions to favour Norris over his team-mate Oscar Piastri, who finished second in Baku, but that suggestion was thrown out the window on Saturday.

That fortunes can change in a matter of seconds in Formula 1 was clearly demonstrated on Norris' final lap in Q3. The team had taken a risk by not putting new tyres on Norris in Q1 – a questionable decision that team boss Andrea Stella defended. However, with the track rapidly gaining grip, Norris was vulnerable as his lap times improved and his final lap became crucial.

In that crucial Tour, he was well on his way to progress until he was in the wrong place at the wrong time and fell victim to a decision that McLaren believed in.

Esteban Ocon had hit a wall and was slowly completing a lap when Norris came out of Turn 15 and the Frenchman crawled around Turn 16. Norris was briefly shown a yellow flag on the trackside monitor and backed off, but the flag was only visible for a short time as the more appropriate white flag for a slow-moving car was then shown.

Norris confirmed that he had started racing when he saw the warning. “Everyone did their second lap, but I didn't. Just bad luck, that's all,” he said.

Stella was less optimistic, calling it “extremely costly” and saying his team had discussed the matter with the FIA. “There was a situation that ideally and according to the regulations should not have happened, we paid the price for it,” he said. “It [the flag] was called at the last minute, we checked our tools and it was a yellow flag. So we are in discussion with the FIA ​​to find out why that happened because the yellow flag is not necessary when there is only one slow car offline.”

No amount of talking will change the outcome or the challenge that awaits Norris on Sunday. While a win for Verstappen is unlikely, he can at least hope for the support of his Red Bull teammate Sergio Pérez, who finished ahead of him in fourth place.

Red Bull expects Pérez to support Verstappen's title challenge and he should act accordingly if he can help his teammate move up the rankings. McLaren, in turn, expects Piastri to do his part to deny the world champion as many points as possible.

At the front, however, Leclerc was commanding and almost certainly untouchable despite Norris' struggles. His final run, on a circuit he admits he loves driving, was a sight to behold, as he chased a previously unruly Ferrari through the streets of Baku with wonderful flair.

With a three-tenth lead over Piastri and teammate Carlos Sainz in third place, Leclerc is well placed to take his second consecutive win, while Norris launches an attack from the back of the field that is crucial to his title fight.

George Russell and Lewis Hamilton finished fifth and seventh for Mercedes. Fernando Alonso was eighth for Aston Martin, while Franco Colapinto finished an impressive ninth for Williams.

Alex Albon was very unlucky when his Williams was sent out onto the track with a radiator fan still attached to the car. This was a serious operational error by the team, which is considered an unsafe release and is currently under investigation. He pulled over to the right and removed the fan himself to continue trying to complete a final lap, but did not have time to start it and finished in tenth place.

Briton Oliver Bearman once again showed great composure to take 11th place for Haas ahead of teammate Nico Hülkenberg, who was 14th. The 19-year-old will make his full-season F1 debut with the team next year, but was standing in for Kevin Magnussen, who is banned for one race after receiving the maximum penalty points at Monza. Bearman made his F1 debut this season in Saudi Arabia, standing in for Carlos Sainz at Ferrari, finishing seventh.

Yuki Tsunoda finished 12th for RB, after his penalty Gasly of Alpine is relegated from 13th place to the back of the grid and Lance Stroll for Aston Martin is 15th.

Daniel Ricciardo finished 16th for RB, Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu finished 18th and 19th for Sauber. Esteban Ocon finished 20th for Alpine.