Lewis Hamilton is refusing to write off his chances of another Turkish Grand Prix win despite serving a 10-place grid penalty after qualifying fastest.
The Mercedes superstar had to hand over pole position to team-mate Valtteri Bottas following an engine change this week.
It means Hamilton, who comes into Sunday's race two points ahead of Max Verstappen, must start from 11th, denying him a 102nd pole at a 31st different circuit.
Only one of his 100 Formula One victories have come behind the front three rows – starting from 14th in Germany in 2018 – although one of his two triumphs from sixth came at this event last year. That was the sole example of a Turkish GP win from beyond the front row.
"I was already third at the end of Turn 1 last year, so that made a bit of a difference," Hamilton told Sky Sports on Saturday. "But it's a much, much different weekend, a much different track grip.
"My eyes are still solely set on winning the race; it's going to be very hard from 11th but not impossible. We're just making sure we'll deliver maximum attack tomorrow."
Bottas, the beneficiary of Hamilton's switch, acknowledged Saturday could not have gone any better for Mercedes.
"Obviously, as a team result, it was as we planned," he said. "Lewis, with his penalty, now gets the minimum penalty he can, and I'm on pole, so it should be good."
But Bottas insisted he was not instructed to slow down in order to allow Hamilton to secure the fastest time, having him start from 11th instead of 12th.
"No, I wasn't asked to slow down, and I was definitely going for it," said the Finn, who will leave for Alfa Romeo at the end of the season.
"I started to struggle a bit with the front end in the last sector, so I just had some understeer in Turn 12 and 14. I could feel I was losing a bit of time.
"I probably used the tyres a bit earlier in the lap. I was fully going for it, for sure."
Fulham 1-1 West Ham: Ings' last-gasp leveller denies Cottagers
Danny Ings' stoppage-time strike rescued a point for West Ham as they drew 1-1 with Fulham at Craven Cottage.
Ings cancelled out Raul Jimenez's first-half goal as local bragging rights were shared in this London derby.
Fulham should have broken the deadlock in the 23rd minute, but Adama Traore headed Alex Iwobi's inviting cross wide from six yards out.
But the hosts were not to be denied just 60 seconds later. Smith Rowe beat the offside trap to latch onto Andreas Pereira's throughball, before crossing for Jimenez to tuck away.
West Ham went close to equalising on the hour mark when Jarrod Bowen brilliantly controlled Mohammed Kudus' cross, but was thwarted by Bernd Leno's smart reflex save.
The Hammers looked set to leave the Cottage empty-handed until the fourth minute of stoppage time, when substitute Ings took Bowen's centre into his stride before Leno could only help the fierce drive into the net.
Data Debrief: Jimenez continues to be scourge of Hammers
Jimenez continued his impressive scoring record against West Ham. The Mexican found the net against them in the Premier League for the sixth time; more than he has managed against any other side.
However, his efforts ultimately proved in vain. Despite an xG of just 0.53 - compared to Fulham's 1.61 - the Hammers struck with one of the last kicks of the game to prevent a third defeat in four matches.
It was Ings' first Premier League away goal since November 2022, while it was the latest West Ham have scored that gained points in the Premier League.
Leclerc continues Baku love affair as Norris' title hopes dented
Ferrari's Charles Leclerc is the Azerbaijan Grand Prix pole-sitter for the fourth year in a row after a stunning showing on the streets of Baku.
Leclerc, who emerged victorious in Monza last time out, is in a good position to close the gap to both Lando Norris and Max Verstappen in the drivers' championship.
Norris will need an unlikely turn of events to close his 62-point gap to the Dutchman as he encountered yellow flags on his final lap in the first session and will start Sunday's race in 17th.
Verstappen, meanwhile, will start in sixth after being outqualified by team-mate Sergio Perez, who finished fourth, with Mercedes' George Russell sandwiched in between.
Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso came next, with Williams producing an excellent display with drives from Franco Colapinto and Alex Albon to complete the top 10.
Leclerc's performance saw him record the best pole streak for a Ferrari driver in a Grand Prix since Michael Schumacher in Spain from 2000 to 2004 (five).
Speaking after qualifying, the Monegasque was confident about his chances of becoming the first driver since Felipe Massa to achieve consecutive victories on at least two occasions.
“It’s one of my favourite tracks of the season, I really like it, it hasn’t been an easy weekend because of the crash in FP1," Leclerc said.
"It didn’t make me lose confidence as I knew that the pace was there, but you’ve got to be back up to speed.
“In Q3 and qualifying it was all about trying to stay as far as possible from the walls and on the last lap I went for it a bit more and the lap time came very nicely.
“The car felt really good and everything felt great, so it’s amazing to be on pole."
Norris was on course to make it through into the second session comfortably but a yellow flag as he approached the final straight saw his flying lap ruined.
“The lap was easily good enough, but there was a yellow flag so I had to back off," Norris said.
“Following is pretty much impossible around here and overtaking is a lot worse than everyone thinks.
“I am not expecting much from 17th, but we will put in a good plan tonight and do our best of course.
"I have been wrong, and I hope there are plenty of chances, but I’m not expecting so.”
But when asked, McLaren team-mate Piastri was confident that the team have the pace to score some big points in the race for the constructors' championship.
"I think from where we are starting, yes," Piastri said.
But following around here is really tough, we saw yesterday, it was pretty tough once you get behind someone, hopefully get some clean air, which will be good.
"We'll see what we can do. I think our race pace is good, but again, the Ferraris are certainly not slow.
Qualifying results
1. Charles Leclerc (Ferrari)
2. Oscar Piastri (McLaren)
3. Carlos Sainz (Ferrari)
4. Sergio Perez (Red Bull)
5. George Russell (Mercedes)
6. Max Verstappen (Red Bull)
7. Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes)
8. Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin)
9. Franco Colapinto (Williams)
10. Alex Albon (Williams)
Leclerc fastest in FP2 as Norris plays down chances of success in Baku
Ferrari's Charles Leclerc was cautious about his chances of winning two Formula 1 races in succession for the first time in his career despite going fastest in the second practice of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.
Leclerc recovered from a crash in the morning to set the pace in the afternoon, 0.006 seconds ahead of Red Bull's Sergio Perez and 0.066 seconds in front of Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes.
Championship leader Max Verstappen finished fifth, while his challenger Lando Norris struggled and languished in 17th after the second classification in Baku.
Despite going quickest, Leclerc admitted there were issues with his Ferrari car, leaving work to do if he wants to get pole position in Azerbaijan for a fourth successive year.
He said: "The thing is that when we started FP2 there was an actual problem on the car that we saw later on, once I stopped, and we changed that particular part.
"It's one of the tracks that I quite like, and we've been pretty quick in the past, but that doesn't mean it will be the case for tomorrow.
"I mean, the crash, there's not much to go into. I braked a little bit too much on the right, the track was still dirty, I locked up, and it was too late to go to the right [run-off] – so I went into the wall."
Norris endured a far more difficult afternoon, only mustering 17th after coming across Alpine's Pierre Gasly in the final sector when attempting his fastest lap.
The Brit cannot afford many slip-ups from now until the end of the season, as he looks to overhaul Verstappen's 62-point lead with eight races remaining, but was downbeat about McLaren's chances this weekend, believing they were lagging behind their competitive rivals.
"We're quite a long way off," Norris said.
"I’m having to push way too much to try and get a lap time out of it.
"Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull, they're all very similar. And then there's a good 0.3 to 0.4 second gap back to us, so a lot of work to do.
"Ferrari are very quick here. Mercedes will be quick with these track conditions. It's very slidey out there."
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