Imperial, the Ferrari driver set the fastest qualifying time in Baku on Friday
Ferrari tastes the joys of pole position again. Charles Leclerc dominated the qualifying session for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, on the Baku street circuit, on Friday April 28, to claim his first pole position this season. For this first qualifying session on Friday for Sunday, the Monegasque driver pulled off an exceptional last lap in Q3 to repel his opponents. He will start at the head of the Grand Prix, ahead of the Red Bulls of Max Verstappen and Sergio Pérez.
Already author of the last two pole positions in Azerbaijan, Charles Leclerc has retained his stranglehold in Baku. In Q3, he first equaled Max Verstappen’s first time to the nearest thousandth, before going for the hundredths which made the difference on a last ultra-fast lap. “I’m surprised, we attacked this weekend thinking it would be good if we were ahead of Mercedes, and in the end we are on pole!” he appreciated at the microphone of Mark Webber after the session.
A second line of teammates
Pushed back to second place after having reigned in free practice, Max Verstappen will still be able to console himself with an unprecedented front row for him in Baku, ahead of his teammate Sergio Pérez. Set back and left the track in Q3, Carlos Sainz grabbed 4th place.
Should this be seen as a sign of nervousness in the face of the new weekend format? The qualifying session was in any case very lively in the streets of the Azerbaijani capital, with two red flags from Q1, which quickly took on the form of an elimination race. At the expense of the unfortunate Pierre Gasly, already weighed down by a major engine problem in testing, and who hit the wall. He will start 19th.
Fortune did not smile more on his teammate Esteban Ocon, not in the rhythm of Mercedes and McLaren, and eliminated in Q2. “It wasn’t the best day, we had some reliability issues, we couldn’t ride as much as we wanted […] We missed this little tenth to go into Q3, it was tight”he regretted at the microphone of Canal+.
The French and all the other disappointed drivers will perhaps have the opportunity to pick up some points during the sprint day on Saturday, with a new qualifying session in the morning, effective for the sprint race in the afternoon. A first in this format.