Poker: Charles Leclerc signs the fourth pole position in the qualifying of the Azerbaijan GP. Ferrari finds confirmation after the Monegasque’s victory in the Italian GP in Monza. The Little Prince with a time of 1’41″365 was the author of a magical lap in which he left all his pursuers at a distance. In the first run of Q3 Leclerc had found the slipstream of Oscar Piastri, but in the following attempt he improved his performance by three tenths even without any help, demonstrating an exceptional feeling with the walls of Baku, although on Friday he had paid for a mistake with a crash. All forgotten, because Ferrari can aim for a second success: Leclerc signs the 26th start from the pole which is the third of the season after Monaco and Monza.
Behind the SF-24, Oscar Piastri appeared with the McLaren: the Australian left more than three tenths from Leclerc’s time, but after touching a wall he understood that it was not the case to take any more risks. Oscar, in fact, managed to slip between the two reds, giving substance to the hopes of the Woking team, given that Lando Norris remained entangled in Q1 in a desolate 17th position. Norris seems to suffer from the pressure of being Max Verstappen’s challenger: he aborted his last lap returning to the pits after slowing down for the yellow flag that had been shown for Ocon’s Alpine. The decision was right, but he should not have found himself in that situation having the papaya car.
In Baku you can overtake, but climbing from the back of the grid will not be easy for an apathetic Norris. Ferrari had a momentary hope of signing the entire front row with Carlo Sainz too. The Spaniard is four tenths behind the poleman and has made no secret of not liking the Azerbaijani track, so he probably kept a bit of a margin on the flying lap to avoid touching the barriers, but tomorrow he could be a thorn in the side of Piastri’s McLaren. Carlos did his part, consolidating a red that seems to have rediscovered its lost verve.
Sainz was good at defending himself from the Red Bull attack: this time it wasn’t Max Verstappen’s SF-24 that was threatening, but Checo Perez’s, who was more at ease than the world champion between the barriers. The Mexican arrived just 8 thousandths behind Ferrari and the South American found the adrenaline that he had been missing in this second part of the season. His points can also be very useful in defending the Constructors’ title, where the margin has shrunk to just 7 points.
Verstappen did not impress, only sixth on the grid: the Dutchman complained about a very unstable rear end, while Perez seems to have found a more effective setup. Despite everything, the Dutchman can play his game in defending the world championship lead.
The three-time world champion will find himself sandwiched between the two Mercedes: the W15s cannot keep up with Ferrari and McLaren and are almost half a second behind. George Russell, fifth, precedes a disappointed Lewis Hamilton who struggled to put energy into the tires.
Fernando Alonso capitalizes on a good eighth place with Aston Martin and did something of his own to stay ahead of the two Williams. The surprise is to see Franco Colapinto immediately in Q3 and, above all, ahead of his teammate Alexander Albon. The Argentine is repaying the faith that James Vowles has placed in him by taking him in place of Logan Sargeant, but the Grove team has made another fool of itself: Albon entered the track for the second run of Q3 with the plastic cover that blocks the airbox of the Mercedes engine. Alexander had to reach out to remove the extra device and throw it to the side of the track, but we hope that the driver is not penalized for the unsafe release. The responsibility is all of the team…
Oliver Bearman had a great qualifying session, putting Haas in 11th place, immediately doing better than Nico Hulkenberg who, with the same car, was unable to go beyond 14th place, a sign that the new generation is bringing a breath of fresh air.
The Englishman on the track is followed by Yuki Tsunoda, but the Japanese Racing Bulls driver will be forced to drop three positions on the grid because he did not slow down in front of a yellow flag exposed at the end of FP3. It will be more difficult for the Faenza team to aim for the points zone in the race.
Pierre Gasly’s performance with Alpine was positive: the Frenchman is 13th and has exploited the limits of the A524, being able to count on the full support of the Woking team, which seems to have instead abandoned his teammate Esteban Ocon.
Lance Stroll settles for 15th place with Aston Martin: the Canadian was unable to put together a clean lap like Fernando Alonso. The AMR24 focused on an unloaded set-up, but the result was not up to expectations.
Daniel Ricciardo with Racing Bulls fails to make it past Q1 and will be 16th on the grid ahead of Lando Norris. The tail end of the grid is also defined by the two Saubers of Valtteri Bottas and Guanyu Zhou. The Finn has put four tenths ahead of the Chinese driver who now seems like a former F1 driver.
Esteban Ocon is last with the Alpine: the Frenchman touched a wall with the left rear and tried to return to the pits with a lopsided tire, ruining the lap of several colleagues who were flying. The transalpine had to take refuge in an escape route, but Esteban followed an order that came to him by radio from the pit wall. It is not surprising that he was put under investigation…
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