At this point Charles Leclerc will ask for honorary citizenship in Azerbaijan. Baku is his second home, among the boulevards and narrow streets of the metropolis overlooking the Caspian Sea he has just won his fourth consecutive pole position, the fifth if we also consider the Sprint race of last season, the number 26 of his career. He is just 3 away from entering the top 10 of all time, tying the 29 of Juan Manuel Fangio. There will be time. In the meantime he can enjoy this magic which is also the third of the season, his and the Reds, after those of Monte Carlo – speaking of home – and Spa, the masterpiece of a fast lap specialist who loves to whiz by a few millimetres from the walls. For the Reds, who also placed Carlos Sainz in the second row with the third time behind Oscar Piastri, it is the best way to follow up on the triumph of Monza, a story of two weeks ago. Hoping to conquer the Azerbaijani fortress for the first time, where the Prancing Horse – despite having its fifth pole, including the one signed by Sebastian Vettel in 2018 – has never managed to win in eight attempts.
A fort to conquer
Team principal Frederic Vasseur will touch wood, but this time the chances of success are more concrete than ever, despite the dangers of a high-speed street circuit where anything can happen, with the safety car always lurking to shuffle the cards. However, the SF-24 has given its best in the race so far, to the point that before today qualifying – just one lap on pole in the Principality at the end of May, in Belgium Charles took advantage of Max Verstappen’s penalty – was a taboo. And it should not be forgotten that the most dangerous rivals are far away, starting with Super Max: the three-time world champion, only sixth despite the revised and corrected bottom mounted on his Red Bull, was also beaten by his teammate Sergio Perez. He hasn’t won in six GPs and hasn’t been on pole in five, Super Max, a fast that was unimaginable just a few weeks ago. However, his closest rival, Lando Norris, managed to do much worse, betrayed by a yellow flag and even eliminated in Q1. He will start 17th, forced to make a very difficult comeback.
“We must not overdo it”
Eight rows ahead, Leclerc is smiling after scoring a poker: only Ayrton Senna (7th at Imola), Lewis Hamilton (6th at Melbourne) and Michael Schumacher (5th at Suzuka and Barcelona) have had a longer streak on the same circuit. «This is one of my favourite tracks, I like it a lot – Charles said -, it wasn’t an easy weekend with the accident in the first free practice session but the pace was always there. On the last lap I attacked a bit more and the time came naturally». After asking via radio to make sure he had a car to chase on the very long straight to the finish line, Charles also took advantage of Sainz’s slipstream, who will be a valuable ally tomorrow: «We are in the best possible position, also considering that this year the car is better in the race». The Spaniard, four tenths behind, confirmed: «We are in a very good position, I have never felt comfortable on this track and therefore the second row is excellent, given our race pace». Vasseur, for his part, preaches caution: “We have always had the best pace in the race – so the Ferrari boss -, but it will be very long. The constructors’ world championship? We must think only of ourselves, without looking at the standings or our opponents. We must not overdo it”.
The penalty missed
As always, it was a thrilling qualifying session in Baku. Norris’ own goal in Q1 was discussed: the Englishman waited too long in the pits, betrayed by the great evolution of the track that allowed everyone to improve, then in the last sector he was unlucky enough to encounter a yellow flag, caused by Esteban Ocon who was going very slowly. “The car was fine,” he commented, “but I couldn’t finish the second lap, I wasn’t lucky.” Perhaps, given the ninth row, he could have tried all the way, even at the cost of seeing his time cancelled or incurring a penalty. The one that Leclerc almost got to just before the start, put under investigation by the stewards for not slowing down under the yellow flag during the last free practice session. Another Alpine protagonist, this time that of Pierre Gasly, whose “long” in the first sector should have advised Charles to slow down: in any case, the driver, accompanied by the sports director of the Reds, Diego Ioverno, managed to demonstrate that he was not to blame, given that the light panel before the curve was off and that, since it was a curve, it was not possible to slow down further without risks. All’s well that ends well.
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