AZERBAIJAN GP – Charles Leclerc takes sixth pole of the season after beating Sergio Perez by a quarter of a second
Charles Leclerc has taken his sixth pole of the season after beating Sergio Perez by a quarter of a second in qualifying for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. The Ferrari driver set a 41.359 on the soft tyres to take his fourth consecutive pole position ahead of both Red Bulls after benefitting from a tow from teammate Carlos Sainz.
Leclerc looked quick through qualifying; the Monacan responded on his final run to beat his teammate by three tenths before both Red Bulls managed to improve to spilt the two Ferrari’s. Max Verstappen was third going six-thousandths of a second behind Perez to take third, and a tenth ahead of Sainz.
Throughout the weekend there once again proved to be little between the top two, although Ferrari had the edge over Red Bull on single-lap pace in Melbourne and Miami. However, they did have to wait, until Perez crossed the line.
Red Bull’s strategy was hampered by a delay in refuelling Verstappen for the final run and the Mexican suffering a power unit issue, meaning he couldn’t benefit from a tow. On his final run, Perez also brushed the wall on the exit of Lewis’s Corner having oversteered through the corner.
Meanwhile, Leclerc looked fast on track as his teammate Sainz tried to challenge for a maiden pole he lost time between Zarifa Aliyeva Street and the left junction with Neftchilar Avenuve. Leclerc then went fastest and while Perez attempted to challenge, he couldn’t go outright fastest in the first two sectors
Leclerc will be looking to build on the pole position and take Ferrari’s first win in Baku, despite errors in both Q1 and Q2 he put the lap together when it mattered taking pole. Despite looking behind Sainz by five hundredths before the final runs, but the Spaniard remained comfortably ahead of George Russell by a tenth.
The Monacan hasn’t taken victory since Melbourne in April but is hopeful the upgrade will allow them to fight Red Bull for victory. he said “I am really excited for tomorrow. Tyre management is a big thing here. And our race pace has done a step up since we brought the upgrades.”
Verstappen added “The start of the lap was good and then it went away from me a bit, tiny mistakes. Not what I want but being second and third we have a good opportunity for tomorrow.”
The top four all appeared in the closing moments of Q3 to have the chance of challenging for pole, but it was Leclerc who took his sixth pole in eight races. Mercedes couldn’t get close enough to challenge the top four with Russell once again looking to be the more comfortable of the two as the team continued to struggle.
Leclerc said “Obviously all pole positions feel good. But this one I didn’t expect it because, especially in Q1 and Q2, I really struggled to see that we were faster but it came together in the last lap and I managed to do a good lap, so I am extremely happy.”
He was a second off the pace and out-qualified Pierre Gasly by over a tenth, Alpha Tauri once again looking competitive as the Frenchman went eight-hundredths faster than Lewis Hamilton and teammate Yuki Tsunoda.
Hamilton struggled with his brake pedal and porpoising as well as driving too slowly on a cool-down lap in Q2, which has been placed under investigation. Mercedes confirmed after the session he was trying an experimental set-up that did not work and cost performance.
However, he still managed to beat Tsunoda by a tenth despite another scrappy session which saw him only just get through to Q2 and Q3.
Sebastian Vettel survived contact with the wall in Q2 to get through into the top ten going ninth, eight-hundredths ahead of the Alpine of Fernando Alonso as they rounded out the top ten.
Lando Norris missed out on Q3 by two hundredths of a second, as the McLaren driver struggled with getting his tyres in the right window he was held up by Hamilton at the Literature Museum (Turn Twelve). Then on his final attempt could only improve to eleventh, beating his teammate Daniel Ricciardo by almost two tenths.
Esteban Ocon put his Alpine thirteenth ahead of both the Alfa Romeo’s, with Guanyu Zhou two tenths behind and Valtteri Bottas a further seven tenths behind. Zhou had impressed midway through Q1 when on used tyres he was fifth, meanwhile on Bottas had to abort his run in Q1 after going straight on at Turn Three.
Lance Stroll brought out the red flags following a second crash in quick succession in Q1, leaving him nineteenth. The Canadian understeered and locked up at the State Puppet Theatre (Turn Seven) going straight into the wall, while he escaped undamaged his second mistake in the closing moments saw him break his front wing and suspension at Turn Two.
Kevin Magnussen was fastest of those knocked out in Q1, the Haas driver going ahead of both the Williams, after going two-tenths faster than Alex Albon and Nicolas Latifi. Stroll’s crash left him nineteenth, four-tenths faster than Mick Schumacher. however both Haas’s have been put under investigation for a pitlane incident, thought to be butting their way into the queue out the team garage at the end of the pitlane at the start of Q1.