Charles Leclerc seized pole position for Sunday’s Azerbaijan Grand Prix, beating both Red Bulls to put Ferrari ahead for the first time this year.
Leclerc and Max Verstappen went into the final pole position shoot-out tied on lap times which were identical to three-thousandths of a second. However he lowered his best to a 1’40.203 on his final run, leaving him almost two-tenths of a second faster than his rival.
Sergio Perez will line up behind them in third on Sunday and Carlos Sainz Jnr starts fourth in the second Ferrari.
Q1
A large queue developed at the end of the pit lane ahead of the start of the opening phase of Friday qualifying. With a high level of track evolution expected following only an hour of practice, drivers were eager to get out on circuit. After his hydraulic problem in practice had left his Alpine on fire, Pierre Gasly was sent out at the start of the session after his team successfully repaired his car in time.
Zhou Guanyu ruined Fernando Alonso’s first flying lap attempt at the first corner, the Alfa Romeo driver spinning lightly into the barrier before resuming. Others in the session would not be so fortunate.
Verstappen set the early benchmark for Red Bull, two-tenths of a second ahead of Charles Leclerc with Alonso eventually going third-fastest with his first timed lap of the session. The stewards noted the Red Bull driver had a problem with his headrest at one point, but ruled the team had sent his car out of the pits in a safe condition and no investigation was needed.
With just over 10 minutes remaining, Nyck de Vries locked up under braking for turn three on his first push lap and slammed into the barrier on the outside of the turn. With the front end of his AlphaTauri heavily damaged and the car stuck in the TecPro barrier, the session was suspended with a red flag.
The clean-up job took almost 15 minutes, following which Q1 resumed with just over 10 minutes left on the clock. However, before any of the 19 remaining drivers could complete a flying lap, the session was stopped for a second time when Gasly carried too much speed into the same corner that caught out De Vries, clipping the barrier and wrecking the rear of his recently-repaired Alpine.
After another delay, the session resumed for a second time with around seven minutes remaining. Sergio Perez jumped to the top of the times before his team mate improved to go ahead at the top by over three-and-a-half-tenths.
Entering the final minutes of the session, both Gasly and De Vries were guaranteed to be eliminated, leaving only three drivers to join them in being knocked out. That soon became two as Kevin Magnussen was brought into the pits by his Haas team who reported a problem with his car. The Haas driver had been frustrated by technical problems all day long, and the latest fault left him 18th.
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The final two elimination spots were filled by the Alfa Romeos of Valtteri Bottas and team mate Zhou. Logan Sargeant was on the verge of elimination in 15th but improved to jump up to the top 10, securing a place in Q2 for the first time. At the chequered flag, Bottas moved into safety, which knocked Nico Hulkenberg down into the drop zone. Zhou also improved but not by enough, leaving him still in 16th and the first car out.
With all drivers having completed their runs, Zhou was joined by Hulkenberg, Magnussen, Gasly and De Vries who had crashed in the earlier stage of the session.
Q1 result
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Q2
The second phase of qualifying began with all 15 remaining drivers taking to the circuit on soft tyres. While the Mercedes pair headed out on used rubber, Red Bull, Ferrari and Aston Martin all opted for new softs for their first runs.
Perez set the fastest time of the early runs with a 1’41.131, a few hundredths quicker than team mate Verstappen with Leclerc also under a tenth behind in third. Russell and Hamilton could only manage seventh and tenth, respectively, on their first attempts and soon headed back out on fresh tyres. Hamilton used his new Pirellis to move ahead of his team mate, the Mercedes pair sitting in eighth and ninth.
Carlos Sainz Jnr had a moment under braking for turn three and took to the escape road, but did not interrupt any of his rivals on flying laps behind him. He reversed his Ferrari out of its predicament and continued on his way untroubled, though the stewards took note of the incident.
In the closing minutes of the session, the drop zone consisted of Esteban Ocon, Yuki Tsunoda, Oscar Piastri, Bottas and Sargeant. Ocon improved to bump Albon out of the top ten, but Piastri and Tsunoda both posted better times to knock Ocon back into elimination. Russell also fell into the drop zone and a poor middle sector for the Mercedes driver on his final lap spelled an end to his participation. He was eliminated in 11th place, only four-thousandths of a second slower than Hamilton.
Joining Russell out of Q2 were Ocon, Bottas in the sole remaining Alfa Romeo and the Williams pair Albon and Sargeant.
Q2 result
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Q3
The top 10 shoot-out to determine the grid for Sunday’s grand prix began with Red Bull the first to take to the track with Perez ahead of team mate Verstappen, followed by the two Ferraris of Leclerc and Sainz behind.
Perez’s initial effort was a 1’40.545 but that was beaten by Verstappen to the tune of a tenth of a second. Sainz could not match the Red Bulls with his first effort of the session.
Then Leclerc came across the line to complete his first lap and posted an identical time to Verstappen to within a thousandth of a second – Verstappen sitting ahead of the Ferrari by virtue of setting the time first.
Hamilton took a provisional fifth place after his first run, seven tenths behind Verstappen and Leclerc, with Norris sixth for McLaren ahead of Lance Stroll, Yuki Tsunoda and Fernando Alonso.
With less than five minutes remaining, drivers began to head back out onto the track for the final time in the session. This time it was the Ferraris out first with Leclerc leading Sainz ahead of Perez and Verstappen, the last of the top four set to complete a time.
Leclerc took almost a quarter of a second out of his and Verstappen’s pole time to take sole ownership of provisional pole position. Sainz could not get within eighth tenths of a second of his team mate, throwing the gauntlet down to the Red Bull drivers to take the top spot of the grid from him.
Perez could not secure a front row start on his final effort and had to settle for third place, leaving Verstappen the only driver who could deny Ferrari pole. Despite improving, Verstappen could not match Leclerc’s best and was almost two tenths slower than the Ferrari driver, securing a first pole position of the season for Leclerc and Ferrari.
Leclerc will have both Red Bulls of Verstappen and Perez line up behind him on the grid with Sainz fourth and Hamilton fifth for Mercedes. Alonso took sixth for Aston Martin, a second slower than Leclerc’s pole time, with Norris seventh and Tsunoda eighth. Stroll and Piastri will complete the top ten on the grid for Sunday’s grand prix.
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Q3 result
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