Leclerc 'did not expect' brilliant Azerbaijan F1 pole

F1

Charles Leclerc snatched pole from Max Verstappen for Sunday's Azerbaijan GP, ahead of tomorrow's sprint qualifying and sprint race

3 Charles Leclerc 2023 Azerbaijan GP

Leclerc shaded Verstappen by 0.2sec

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F1’s newest race weekend format got underway with a thrilling Friday qualifying session for Sunday’s Azerbaijan GP, which saw Charles Leclerc take his third Baku pole in a row – pipping Red Bull’s Max Verstappen by two tenths.

“For sure, I’m surprised,” Leclerc said. “We came into the weekend thinking it would be great if we were in front of Mercedes and Aston in qualifying. We must not forget that our race car is maybe still behind the Red Bulls, so it’s going to be difficult to get the lead but that’s the target, and I’m really happy with the lap.”

Verstappen looked a good bet for pole for much of the session, but found himself unable to match Leclerc at the end.

“It’s always tough around here to really put the whole act together,” the Red Bull driver said. “We tried something different on the second out lap, which maybe was not ideal.

Max Verstappen Red Bull 2023 Azerbaijan GP

Red Bull boys were left to ponder the deficit, but have plenty of time to claw it back across Saturday and Sunday

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“Nevertheless, P2, we know that we have a very good race car. So all in all, it’s not bad.”

Today’s session only sets the grid for Sunday’s race, with Saturday seeing a shorter qualifying session order cars for a sprint race later that day, which will count towards championship points but not affect Sunday’s GP grid.

“It’s a very challenging weekend overall for drivers because we have very little time to practice,” said Leclerc. “You need to be straight on it, but the feeling was good since the start.”

The session had to be stopped twice for crashes in Q1, increasing the tension before qualifying’s crescendo – here’s how it panned out.

Nyck de Vries Alpha Tauri 2023 Azerbaijan GP

De Vries crashed out early

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All cars headed out early to set a banker lap on a track which often brings out red flags, and it was Max Verstappen who topped the time sheets early on with a 1min 41.8878sec.

Charles Leclerc and Fernanado Alonso dutifully fell into line behind the Dutchman with times tumbling, but with five minutes of Q1 gone the red flag came out.

It was Nyck de Vries’ AlphaTauri which had embedded itself in the barrier at Turn 3 after locking his brakes, the man currently propping up the championship with zero points bringing the session to a halt – “Oh my God” he exclaimed on the radio.

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It later emerged de Vries had reported a brake-by-wire issue at the start of the session.

Once the car was retrieved and barrier repaired following a lengthy stoppage, the session restarted – and then stopped again immediately.

Pierre Gasly – whose Alpine team had worked at lightning speed to get his car ready after a spectacular engine failure in practice – hit the wall at the same place at de Vries, terminally damaging the righthand side of his machine and bringing out the red flag again.

More barrier repair was required, and after another long stoppage cars squabbled to get back on track first – George Russell was the most at risk, only being 15th-fastest after the first runs.

Leclerc would ultimately set the fastest lap of Q1 – a 1min 41.269sec – with Zhou Guanyu, Nico Hülkenberg, Kevin Magnussen, Pierre Gasly and Nyck de Vries knocked out.

When Q2 commenced, it was Perez that set the early pace after the first runs, improving on Leclerc’s previous benchmark by a tenth.

Pierre Gasly Alpine 2023 Azerbaijan GP

Gasly was left a spectator after T3 shunt

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Verstappen would ultimately top the timesheets with a 1min 40.822sec, but the big-name loser was Russell who was knocked out by 0.004sec by his team-mate Lewis Hamilton – “Sugar – we had the pace this weekend!” was the young charge’s reaction.

Also eliminated in Q2 was Esteban Ocon, Alexander Albon, Valtteri Bottas and Logan Sargeant with both McLarens and Yuki Tsunoda making it through.

As Q3 started, Verstappen and Leclerc were perfectly matched – they both set an exact same time of 1min 40.445sec.

However, the Monegasque has proved to be an ace in Baku before claiming pole at the last two races – and he made it a hat-trick in 2023.

“Cmon!” said a relieved Leclerc. “Feel’s good! Management [of the session] incredible – it’s good to be back on top.”

The Ferrari man had set a lap of 1min 40.203sec, almost two tenths faster than Verstappen.

Perez was a further two tenths off, with Sainz lining up on the second row next to him on Sunday.

Hamilton managed to put his Mercedes fifth, albeit a second off pole-sitter Leclerc.

His old rival Alonso will start in sixth, while Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri showed the potential of the updated McLaren with seventh and tenth respectively.

The papaya cars sandwiched an impressive Tsunoda in eighth and Aston’s Lance Stroll.

Charles Leclerc 2023 Azerbaijan GP

Leclerc emerged from a difficult start to 2023 for Ferrari by going fastest in Baku

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Attention now turns to Saturday’s sprint proceedings, with the next time the drivers get into their cars being another qualifying session.

“It’s gonna be challenging because we haven’t run the medium [tyre] yet,” said Leclerc following his first pole of the season.

“So tomorrow in qualifying won’t be the best time, and we need to be on it because we only have one set, so no room for mistake. But again, the pace seems strong so hopefully we can learn in Q1 and Q2 and then push in Q3.”

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