Hammy’s hopeful but Leclerc sits in pole position
CHARLES LECLERC made it back-to-back poles as he saw off Lewis Hamilton ahead of today’s Azerbaijan Grand Prix.
Following a frenetic qualifying, which saw four red-flag periods, Leclerc edged out Hamilton by twotenths of a second in Baku, with Max Verstappen third for Red Bull.
Yuki Tsunoda crashed out in the final moments of qualifying which prevented the grid from completing their final runs.
Leclerc (below) said afterwards: “It was quite a s**t lap I thought.
“I made mistakes in two or three corners but I got a big tow of Lewis in the last sector which helped me out a little – but overall we would have been there or thereabouts for pole without the slipstream.”
Hamilton (above) meanwhile could hardly believe he will start ahead of Verstappen today.
The Mercedes driver blasted his team-mates earlier this weekend for being off the pace, but the seven-time world champion improved as qualifying progressed to start the sixth round on the front row. “Wow, what an effort,” Hamilton said to his team over the radio, later adding: “We definitely were not expecting that.
“This is such a monumental result because we have been struggling all weekend.”
In contrast, Red
Bull were stunned as Verstappen was unable to post his second lap of Q3 after Tsunoda crashed out at Turn 3 and Carlos Sainz also ran off the circuit, distracted by the collision.
“It was just a stupid qualifying,” said Verstappen.
“Everything was working out fine but all this s**t all the time is happening in Q3.”
Pierre Gasly is fourth for Alphatauri with Sainz fifth and Lando Norris sixth.
But Norris faces a trip to the stewards after he remained out on track after the first red flag had been issued.
Q1 took almost 40 minutes, rather than the scheduled 18, to complete following two red-flag periods.
First, Lance Stroll crashed out then Antonio Giovinazzi fell victim to the
15th bend.
The two drivers will line up at the back of the grid.
QUALIFYING RESULTS
1 C Leclerc (Mon) Ferrari 1min 41.218secs 2 L Hamilton
(Gbr) Mercedes GP 1:41.450
3 M Verstappen (Ned) Red
Bull 1:41.563 4 P Gasly
(Fra) Scuderia Alphatauri 1:41.565 5 C Sainz (Spa) Ferrari 1:41.576 6 L Norris (Gbr) Mclaren 1:41.747 7S Perez (Mex) Red Bull 1:41.917 8 Y Tsunoda (Jpn) Scuderia Alphatauri 1:42.211 9 F Alonso (Spa) Alpine 1:42.327 10 V Bottas (Fin) Mercedes GP 1:42.659