Ferrari’s Leclerc nabs second consecutive pole in Red Flag-marred Baku qualifying; Hamilton salvages a P2 start, Verstappen P3 after Q3 ends early
Ferrari’s ace pilot Charles Leclerc secured his second consecutive pole position at the second consecutive street circuit on the calendar, this time through the very demanding boulevards and alleyways of the Baku City Circuit during Saturday qualifying for the return of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. Two weeks after setting the fastest quali time in Monaco before crashing out, Leclerc survived today’s crash-laden affair and benefitted from setting a fine fast banker lap early in Q3. That held up very nicely when that final qualifying session was ended prematurely under a Red Flag due to rookie Yuki Tsunoda misjudging his breaking point and spearing his AlpahTauri into the barriers nose first. A collateral shunt by Leclerc’s teammate, Carlos Sainz, made certain that there was not enough time to clear the track and resume, so the Monegasque was therefore awarded the top starting spot. It will be something of a deja vu do-over for Leclerc and he will be desperate to forget his heartbreaking experience in Monte Carlo when his car was unable to start his home race despite earning the pole, likely due to his untimely Q3 shunt there. This time, Leclerc kept everything clean and he and Ferrari will have as good a chance as any team and driver of taking victory tomorrow at this demanding and highly technical track.
The Red Flag may or may not have cost Mercedes ace Lewis Hamilton a shot at pole but in any event Lewis will line up beside Leclerc in P2 so he will likely try to wrest the lead from the Ferrari right when the lights go out. Hamilton was also pleased to start one spot better than the Red Bull of Max Verstappen, who was disappointed to have only the third fastest time on the board when the session was ended. After looking like he had the fastest car and Verstappen looking the fastest driver, the Monaco winner and current points leader will have to duke it out from P3 against the talented rivals ahead of him if he wants to keep his championship momentum going. The Dutchman’s Red Bull teammate Sergio Perez qualified a disappointing P7, which puts him out of position since he was very fast during practice sessions, so look for the savvy Mexican to make up places at a fairly rapid rate. And that was still miles ahead of Hamilton’s Silver Arrows partner Valtteri Bottas, who struggled for pace and grip once again and could only muster a lowly P10 time when Q3 ended. On the other hand, the second AlphaTauri of Pierre Gasly excelled by taking P4 on the grid, matching his career best qualifying performance. Sainz should line up in P5 if he did not damage his Prancing Horse too badly when he skidded and spun off into the barriers after locking up behind Tsunoda. Lando Norris qualified P6 in his McLaren, salvaging something for the team after Daniel Ricciardo crashed out heavily in Q2. But the young Englishman was later assessed a 3-spot grid penalty for not entering the pits promptly when a Red Flag came out in Q1, so that will drop him to P9 on tomorrow’s grid.
Despite his costly mistake, Tsunoda still had his best quali effort and set the eighth fastest time. And Alpine’s Fernando Alonso used the tow like a wise veteran should, managing to haul himself up to P9 by the time final session stopped after letting Hamilton’s Merc punch a whole in the air in front of him during his best flying lap.
Top 10 qualifiers for the Azerbaijan GP:
| POS | DRIVER | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1:42.241 | 1:41.659 | 1:41.218 | |
| 2 | 1:41.545 | 1:41.634 | 1:41.450 | |
| 3 | 1:41.760 | 1:41.625 | 1:41.563 | |
| 4 | 1:42.288 | 1:41.932 | 1:41.565 | |
| 5 | 1:42.121 | 1:41.740 | 1:41.576 | |
| 6 | 1:42.167 | 1:41.813 | 1:41.747 | |
| 7 | 1:41.968 | 1:41.630 | 1:41.917 | |
| 8 | 1:42.521 | 1:41.654 | 1:42.211 | |
| 9 | 1:42.934 | 1:42.195 | 1:42.327 | |
| 10 | 1:42.701 | 1:42.106 | 1:42.659 |
Complete qualifying results available via Formula1.com.
Tomorrow’s race airs live on ESPN2 beginning at 8AM Eastern here in the States. With the grid properly scrambled and the treacherous nature of this most entertaining and demanding of street circuits it should be a real doozy. Your guess is as good as mine as to who emerges victorious after 51 grueling laps in Baku so hope to see you then to find out how it all shakes out!