Charles Leclerc takes pole for F1 Sprint race ahead of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix

Charles Leclerc took pole position for the sprint race in Azerbaijan, which starts at 2.30pm BST.

Despite a late accident, the Ferrari man repeated what he had done in Friday afternoon’s main qualifying session by setting the fastest time on a circuit that is a personal favourite. Three times before he took pole here.

Red Bull’s Sergio Perez, 0.147 seconds back, was second fastest with teammate Max Verstappen third. George Russell was fourth, Carlos Sainz fifth and Lewis Hamilton sixth.

Leclerc wasn’t quite having a good time and he crashed into the barriers on his last flying lap, damaging his front wing.

It slowed Sainz. “I’m sorry for Carlos,” said Leclerc, who also left his team with a fix to perform between the newfangled spring shootout and the sprint itself, which was run over 17 laps.

Leclerc got out of the car and added: “I tried to push again and lost it in turn 5, but it doesn’t affect qualifying.

“I was very happy with the first lap and now we have to translate that into the race.

We’re going for it, but we have to be realistic and we’ve been on the back foot in the race behind the Red Bulls so far this year, but hopefully we’ll get a good surprise.

“Ferrari must be on top and I will give absolutely everything to win.”

Lando Norris qualified 10th but couldn’t get into Q3 as he had used up all his fresh soft tyres, which is required by the rules. It was a very strange mistake by McLaren.

Q1 came to an abrupt halt as Logan Sargeant planted his Williams in the barrier at Turn 15. His path exiting the corner was obstructed by Carlos Sainz’s Ferrari, it went wide and his right rear wheel was torn off on impact.

The American rookie, who was unharmed, immediately pointed the finger of blame and said: “The Ferrari was in the middle of the road.”

Points are awarded to the top eight finishers in the sprint, but the order does not determine the starting grid for Sunday’s Grand Prix.