Leclerc secures Azerbaijan GP pole after Monaco disappointment
Charles Leclerc claimed pole position for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, this time without crashing.
The Ferrari driver secured his second straight pole on Saturday, but was unable to start his hometown Monaco GP two weeks ago due to damage to his car sustained in the third round of qualifying.
"It was quite a shit lap I thought," Leclerc said of his pace-setting trip around Baku City Circuit. "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."
Leclerc outpaced both Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton and Red Bull's Max Verstappen, both of whom are fighting for the championship lead.
Pos. | Driver | Team | Time |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | 1:41.218 |
2 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | +0.232 |
3 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | +0.345 |
4 | Pierre Gasly | AlphaTauri | +0.347 |
5 | Carlos Sainz | Ferrari | -- |
6 | Sergio Perez | Red Bull | +0.699 |
7 | Yuki Tsunoda | AlphaTauri | -- |
8 | Fernando Alonso | Alpine | +1.109 |
9 | Lando Norris | McLaren | +0.529* |
10 | Valtteri Bottas | Mercedes | +1.441 |
11 | Sebastian Vettel | Aston Martin | Q2 |
12 | Esteban Ocon | Alpine | Q2 |
13 | Daniel Ricciardo | McLaren | Q2 |
14 | Kimi Raikkonen | Alfa Romeo | Q2 |
15 | George Russell | Williams | Q2 |
16 | Nicolas Latifi | Williams | Q1 |
17 | Nikita Mazepin | Haas | Q1 |
18 | Mick Schumacher | Haas | Q1 |
19 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin | Q1 |
20 | Antonio Giovinazzi | Alfa Romeo | Q1 |
Following the qualifying session, McLaren's Lando Norris was given a three-place grid penalty for failing to obey red flag procedures during Q1. Qualifying at sixth, Norris will begin Sunday's Azerbaijan GP from ninth.
The Q3 session came to an abrupt end when Yuki Tsunoda crashed into the wall, causing Carlos Sainz to go off track and also sustain front wing damage.
Saturday's Azerbaijan GP qualifying featured four red flags total. Aside from Tsunoda and Sainz, both Alfa Romeo's Antonio Giovinazzi and Aston Martin's Lance Stroll crashed early in Q1 while McLaren's Daniel Ricciardo put his car in the wall during Q2.
"It was a stupid qualifying to be honest, but it is what it is," Verstappen said following the session. "It's a street circuit so these things can happen, our car is strong so hopefully tomorrow we can score good points"