Charles Leclerc fires Max Verstappen’s Red Bull to put his Ferrari on pole position for the third year in a row at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix… as Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton could only qualify fifth
Chares Leclerc took pole position for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix in an eventful debut for Formula 1’s new weekend format.
The Ferrari man took credit ahead of Sunday’s 51-lap race by beating world champion and championship leader Max Verstappen by 0.188 seconds.
Sergio Perez was third fastest for Red Bull. Lewis Hamilton could only manage fifth as Mercedes’ turbulent start to the year continued. He was 0.974 seconds off the top.
“Job done, thanks for everything, the car was really good,” said Leclerc. “It’s good to be back on top.”
Saturday is now sprint day. Friday’s qualifying positions face Sunday’s race.
Charles Leclerc beat Max Verstappen to put his Ferrari on pole for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix
The Ferrari man took credit ahead of Sunday’s 51-lap race by beating Max Verstappen
Qualifying for the sprint will follow on Saturday, followed by the sprint race itself. The results of the day will not affect Sunday’s starting line-up under the new schedule.
The new starting order – one qualifying session on Friday morning – may have been partly responsible for throwing a surprise – Verstappen from pole after almost total dominance of the season so far. His Red Bull team had taken three poles so far and looked unmatchable.
Let’s not get carried away just yet that this is a big change in terms of reversing the power of Red Bull.
They will undoubtedly have a strong race car on Sunday, so they may remain favorites for the Grand Prix victory itself.
It was a lively afternoon with a 28 minute delay for the first qualifying session alone. The first stoppage came when Nyck de Vries took out his AlphaTauri in turn 3.
It took forever to fix the barrier – 17 minutes to be exact. Less than two minutes after the restart, Alpine’s Pierre Gasly was eliminated in the same dangerous spot.
The suspension lasted 11 minutes. “I couldn’t stop the car,” the Frenchman complained.
George Russell just missed Q1 by four-thousandths of a second, 11th behind Hamilton in 10th.
Told the bad news, Russell said, ‘Ah sugar.’ A bad day for Mercedes, their form from Australia a month ago proved elusive on the streets of Baku.
Sergio Perez qualified third ahead of Carlos Sainz and Lewis Hamilton fifth, 0.974s off the pace
George Russell just missed Q1 by four thousandths of a second, 11th behind Hamilton