AZERBAIJAN GP – Charles Leclerc beats Oscar Piastri to pole by three-tenths following shock Q1 knockout for Lando Norris
Charles Leclerc has beaten Oscar Piastri by just over three tenths to take his fourth pole in a row in Baku for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. The Ferrari driver set a 41.365 on the soft tyre which appeared to give him the advantage as Leclerc nailed his final lap with the strong pace of the car to secure pole.
Leclerc was on fire in the final part of qualifying as he was not only three-tenths faster but managed to extend his advantage on his second attempt in Q3. That allowed him to hold off the McLaren who has looked to have a more difficult weekend, Leclerc has dominated qualifying since it years hiatus in 2020.
But despite his matchless pace over one lap in Baku, he has never won a race around the streets of Baku, on the shores of the Caspian Sea. This weekend has not been trouble-free, crashing out in FP1 and then technical issues in FP2, has seen him lose about half his track time.
Piastri managed to split the Ferrari’s going over a tenth faster than Carlos Sainz as McLaren’s difficult weekend continued with Piastri’s title-contending teammate Lando Norris was knocked out Q1. Sainz was just over a tenth behind his teammate in third as he put his Ferrari almost a tenth and a quarter behind.
Leclerc said “It’s one of my favourite tracks of the season, I really like it. It hasn’t been an easy weekend because obviously the crash in FP1. But it didn’t make me lose the confidence, I knew the pace was there.”
“In qualifying, it was all about trying to stay away from the walls and then in that last lap I went for it a bit more and the lap time came very nice. The car felt really good, everything felt great and it’s amazing to be on pole.”
Piastri said, “I got a little bit close to the walls on the last lap; just tried to get the most out of it. This track rewards commitment and the last lap in Q3, I knew a had a little less to lose, so just tried to maximise the car. It was feeling good all the way through; just didn’t maximise it enough in the first part of qualifying but I’m very happy with Q3.”
Sainz added, “We had a solid qualifying and day in general with the two cars and I think we put ourselves in a very good position ahead of tomorrow. I’ve never really been 100% hooked up around here in my career, it’s a track that I tend to struggle with a bit so to be P3 is a good position for tomorrow.”
Sergio Perez put his Red Bull fourth he was half a tenth faster than George Russell, as the Mexican out-qualified his teammate Max Verstappen for the first time this season and for the first time since April 2023. That should be little surprise given Baku is a circuit where Perez has won at twice the only driver to do so as well as being on the podium five times.
Verstappen however continued to struggle to get to grips with his Red Bull, but the shock was Norris. The McLaren was forced to abort his final run in Q1 because of yellow flags, as the track improved, he was pushed out of qualifying and then had no opportunity to improve.
Until he was forced to abort his lap, Norris was on course to comfortably but a yellow flag and he approached the final straight meant he had to back off and the lap was ruined. That coupled with track evolution pushed him down the order after he was inside the top 10 following the first runs in qualifying and he soon found himself in the bottom five and needing to improve.
As Norris approached the final braking zone on the lap at Azneft Square (Turn Sixteen), there was a brief flashing yellow panel before clearing for white flags on the exit due to Esteban Ocon going slowly. He also ran wide on the exit of the corner.
That meant he couldn’t get the power down on the sweeping long flat-out section to the line. The team immediately apologised to him on the radio but it is not clear if this was because they made a mistake by telling him to abort his lap. For Norris it could be a huge moment in deciding the championship.
Since the summer break Norris has taken points out of Verstappen in the last two races and McLaren has a stronger car than Red Bull. The British driver will need help from Safety Cars or red flags on Sunday to get anywhere near the top positions but will likely have to limit the damage.
Norris said: “The lap was easily good enough but there was a yellow flag so I had to back off. Following is pretty much impossible around here and overtaking is a lot worse than everyone thinks”
Lewis Hamilton put his Mercedes seventh, he was a quarter of a second behind Verstappen and ahead of Fernando Alonso. This circuit was always expected to suit Williams and it did, Franco Colapinto bouncing from his crash earlier in the weekend out-qualifying teammate Alex Albon by nearly three and a half tenths.
Albon failed to do a final run and is under investigation for an unsafe release, after Williams sent him out with the fan still attached to the car. Ollie Bearman also put in a strong performance for Haas going eleventh and missing out on the final part of qualifying by a tenth and a half.
But despite being a perfect bounce back from his FP3 crash and out-qualifying experience teammate Nico Hulkenberg by two-tenths, he was still frustrated to miss out as he felt a mistake cost him a place in Q3 like in Jeddah. Pierre Gasly was thirteenth jus over a hundredth ahead Hulkenberg, with Lance Stroll slowest in Q2
Daniel Ricciardo was fastest of those knocked out in Q1 after being seven hundredths slower than Alonso. The RB driver going a tenth and a half ahead of former teammate Norris, following his struggles this weekend. Valtteri Bottas was six tenths ahead of his Sauber teammate Guanyu Zhou, with Esteban Ocon completing the field.
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