Leclerc leaves struggler Lewis in the slow lane
CHARLES LECLERC put his Ferrari on pole position for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix as Lewis Hamilton faced a stewards’ investigation for “driving unnecessarily slowly”.
No further action was taken against the Brit, who starts seventh on the grid in Baku.
Leclerc, who trails leader Max Verstappen by nine points in the championship standings, bounced back from his Monaco misery a fortnight ago to blow away his rivals.
The Monaco racer saw off Sergio Perez, who had taken advantage of Leclerc’s flatfooted Ferrari team in Monte Carlo to claim his third career win, by 0.282secs.
World champion Verstappen lines up in third place, one spot ahead of Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz.
George Russell outqualified team-mate Hamilton for the fifth time in eight rounds this season.
Russell was mocked by fans as F1’s “poshest” driver after politely describing Verstappen’s driving as “erratic”.
The Brit will start fifth, two places ahead of Hamilton, who finished 1.6secs behind Leclerc and two tenths adrift of Russell.
Hamilton appeared to delay countryman Lando Norris in the final minutes of Q2. While Hamilton progressed to the top-10 shootout, Norris was eliminated and finished 11th.
Norris’ race engineer Will Joseph said to his driver: “He (Hamilton) is the lead car. He will get in trouble.
“Don’t let him play silly b ****** .”
After claiming his sixth pole of the season and fourth in succession, Leclerc said: “All poles feel good but this one I did not expect because I thought the Red Bulls were stronger.
“But the last lap came together and I am extremely happy.
“I am really excited for tomorrow.”
Hamilton (left), who heads into today’s race 75 points behind championship leader Verstappen, was warned by his team not to drive slowly on his out-lap.
He responded by saying: “I don’t know what you expect from me, man, sometimes.”
Q1 was red-flagged with just two-and-ahalf minutes remaining after Lance Stroll crashed out.
Only moments after hitting the barrier and reversing out, the Canadian driver collided with the wall for a second time.