Leclerc hopes to finally capitalise on pole in Baku

BAKU: Charles Leclerc on Saturday set himself up to bid for another emotional Ferrari victory when he claimed his fourth consecutive pole position on the streets of Baku for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.

The Monegasque driver, who triumphed at Monaco in May and won the Italian Grand Prix at Monza two weeks ago, continued his supreme current form to beat McLaren´s Oscar Piastri by three-tenths of a second.

Despite three previous poles in 2021, 2022 and 2023, Leclerc has yet to taste victory in Azerbaijan.

In a dramatic qualifying session with title-chasing Lando Norris, in the second McLaren, eliminated in Q1 in 17th place, Leclerc clocked a best lap of one minute and 43.365 on his final run to take his career 26th pole.

Series leader and three-time champion Max Verstappen of Red Bull, who leads Norris by 62 points, qualified only sixth. “It´s amazing to be on pole,” said Leclerc.

“The car felt really good and everything was great. It´s one of my favourite tracks. I really like it. It hasn´t been an easy weekend because of my crash in FP1.

“It didn´t make me lose confidence, as I knew that the pace was there, but you´ve got to be back up to speed.

“In Q3 and qualifying, it was all about trying to stay away from the walls and on the last lap I went for it a bit more - and the lap time came very nicely.”

His Ferrari team-mate Carlos Sainz was third in the second Ferrari ahead of Sergio Perez of Red Bull and Mercedes´ George Russell.

“Its the best we could hope for,” said Leclerc.

“The left side of the grid is a little bit less grippy, so first and third is where you want to start here and hopefully we can play a team game tomorrow to win.

“It´s going to be a long race. In the past, we have been very strong in qualifying and struggled a bit in the race, but this year we have a stronger race car -- so I hope we can finally make it tomorrow.

“Tyre management will be a big thing so we´ve got to do a good job again. We did a good job in Monza, but we have to re-set every race we do so this is another race with other issues.”

Ferrari team-mate Carlos Sainz qualified third.

“We had a solid qualifying and we´re in a good position. I´ve never felt 100 per cent hooked up around here in my career and I tend to struggle on this track, but this is a good position. And my race pace seemed strong -- so I think it is all to play for.”

Sergio Perez was a strong fourth for Red Bull on a track he enjoys, ahead of George Russell of Mercedes and Verstappen. Seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton was seventh for Mercedes ahead of two-time champion Fernando Alonso of Aston Martin and Argentine new boy Franco Colapinto who out-paced his more experienced Williams team-mate Alex Albon.

Norris stays hopeful despite Baku qualifying flop

Title-chasing McLaren driver Lando Norris remained hopeful of success on Saturday despite qualifying in a lowly 17th place for Sunday´s Azerbaijan Grand Prix.

The Briton, knocked out of the first qualifying session for the first time since the 2023 Las Vegas Grand Prix, lost his best lap when he eased off due to a yellow flag, but said he would do his best to limit damage to his championship challenge.

Norris is 62 points behind three-time champion and series leader Max Verstappen of Red Bull with eight races, and three sprint races, remaining with the Dutchman qualifying in sixth place for Sunday´s race.

Verstappen has failed to win in six races, but showed improved form in practice and qualifying in Baku after a dismal run of form.

“I´m not expecting a lot from 17th,” said Norris.

“But we will put in a good plan tonight and do our best.”

He said his lap, interrupted by the yellows, had been “easily good enough” before he “had to back off”.

His race engineer Will Joseph said: “Mate I´m sorry” on team radio, suggesting he felt that he could have advised him sooner of the spin by Williams´ Alex Albon that led to the yellow flag.

“I hope I´m wrong,” said Norris. “And I hope there are plenty of chances to overtake, but I´m not expecting it. It´s a very low downforce track which makes it pretty much impossible for overtaking.

“It´s worse than people think and not easy, but I´ll do my best.” Norris´s flop effectively rendered redundant any likely use of team orders this weekend to boost his hopes of victory with support from team-mate Oscar Piastri who starts from the front row alongside pole-sitter Charles Leclerc of Ferrari.

Piastri said: “I got a little bit close to the walls on my last lap -- I was just trying to get the most out of it. This track rewards commitment and, last lap in Q3, I knew I had a little less to lose so I just tried to maximise the car.

“It was feeling good all the way through.” Looking ahead to the race, he said: “Following around here is really tough so it´s good to get soe clean air. We´ll see what I can do. Our race pace is good, but again the Ferraris are not slow.”