Azerbaijan F1 Grand Prix 2017 Qualifying: Saturday's Results, Times, Final Grid

Lewis Hamilton will start the 2017 Azerbaijan Formula One Grand Prix on pole after topping Saturday's qualifying session with a time of one minute, 40.593 seconds.

Valtteri Bottas, who topped the timesheet in the third and final practice session earlier on, was a close second.

The Finn will start ahead of compatriot Kimi Raikkonen, who finished more than a second behind Hamilton.

F1's official Twitter account provided the standings from qualification:

Qualifying Recap

Hamilton dominated Q1 with a superb showing, as he set the fastest lap ever at the Baku City Circuit before improving on it shortly after.

Fernando Alonso was the biggest casualty as he missed to Pascal Wehrlein by the narrowest of margins, while Romain Grosjean's late push for survival was hindered when he scraped the wall at Turn 15 and came off at Turn 2.

F1 shared the timings:

Hamilton improved slightly in Q2 to keep hold of top spot, but it was his Mercedes team-mate, Bottas, who made the most significant leap from seventh to second.

Felipe Massa, meanwhile, was fortunate to remain in the hunt as he twice came close to disaster at Turn 15:

Daniil Kvyat, Carlos Sainz and Kevin Magnussen were among those eliminated in Q2:

Bottas—who secured second in Q2 at the very end—carried his momentum in Q3 as he quickly set the quickest time.

Hamilton went wide at Turn 16 as he failed to top it, but the session was quickly brought to a halt when Daniel Ricciardo hit a wall exiting Turn 6.

However, the Englishman was able to edge out his Silver Arrows team-mate after the restart with a superb effort.

FP3 Recap

F1's official Twitter account provided the timings from the session:

Eager to make up for his crash on Friday, Jolyon Palmer was the first man on track and the first to set a time, but within minutes he had to stop after his car caught fire:

The times at the top quickly fell, as Kvyat and Sainz traded the top spot before Bottas took them both, with Mercedes team-mate Hamilton close behind.

Pirelli Motorsport noted the choice of tyres from the pair:

They were soon split by Massa, Raikkonen, Sergio Perez and eventually Sebastian Vettel after the Ferrari man's car needed work, though the German was quickly forced to retreat to the garage once again.

A change to supersofts saw Hamilton roar back up the timesheet and into first, but not to be outdone, Bottas regained top spot after his own tyre change.

Meanwhile, Massa came within a hair's breadth of crashing when his rear end went at Turn 8, but the Brazilian narrowly managed to avoid an early end to the session:

Likewise, Hamilton had a lucky escape at the same spot when he went over the revised kerbs, while Romain Grosjean spun into the barrier at Turn 2 but was fortunate to avoid damage to his car.

Raikkonen topped the timesheet for the briefest of moments, but Bottas hit back with an immediate response to secure his status as the quickest in FP3.