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For the fourth consecutive year, Charles Leclerc secures pole position for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. He beat out Oscar Piastri by 0.3 seconds.
For much of Q3, it looked like a Ferrari front-row lockout, but the McLaren driver spoiled it with his final flying lap, edging out Carlos Sainz.
Leclerc crashed in FP1 on Friday and dealt with a part problem on his car in FP2. While those setbacks put him and Ferrari on the back foot Saturday, he said “the pace was always there” to win pole at a track he considers one of his favorites.
“In qualifying, until Q3, it was all about trying to stay as far as possible of the walls,” Leclerc said, “and then in that last lap, I went for it a bit more, and the lap time came very nicely. The car felt really good, and everything felt great. It’s amazing to be on pole.”
Sainz, his teammate, will line up on the second row alongside Sergio Pérez, who out-qualified Red Bull teammate Max Verstappen for the first time this season.
It does not come as a complete surprise given how Pérez has thrived at this track in previous years, winning last year and in 2021.
But the big surprises from qualifying are Williams’ Franco Colapinto and McLaren’s Lando Norris. Colapinto replaced Logan Sargeant at Williams after the Dutch GP. In Azerbaijan, the Argentine driver accomplished what the American driver couldn’t during his F1 career — out-qualifying Alex Albon (who exited the pits with an airbox fan still on his car ahead of the final flying Q3 laps).
Meanwhile, Norris got knocked out in Q1 and qualified 17th, ending McLaren’s perfect record of having both cars qualify for Q3 this season. Norris was caught behind a slow-moving Esteban Ocon, which had brought out the yellow flags.
Norris tells Sky he had to lift in response to the yellow flags: “Everyone did their second laps, and I didn’t. Just unlucky, that’s all.”
“I’m still hopeful we can get a good result. I think the car is quick. The lap I was on, I would have gone 2nd. But nothing I can do.” #F1
— Luke Smith (@LukeSmithF1) September 14, 2024
McLaren team principal Andrea Stella told Sky Sports the team had spoken to the FIA about the yellow flags that cost Norris in qualifying, believing they should not have been shown.
“We were in conversation with the FIA as to why that happened, because the yellow flag isn’t necessary when it’s just a slow car, it’s off-line,” Stella said. “Everyone tries their best, I’m sure. This time, there was a situation which ideally, and I think by the regulations, shouldn’t have happened. We paid the price.
“We don’t give up. Like I say, everyone (is) trying their best. We acknowledged that, we moved on and we’ll try our best tomorrow to go and get some good points.”
The championships became tighter over the last few races. Sixty-two points separate Verstappen and Norris, and Leclerc is just 24 points behind the McLaren driver. The constructors’ standings are also tighter. Red Bull leads McLaren by eight points, and Ferrari is just 31 points behind the Woking-based team.
With his teammate starting behind him on Sunday, Leclerc hopes to put even more pressure on the teams Ferrari is chasing in the championship.
“Hopefully, we can play a team game tomorrow to win that race,” Leclerc said. “It’s going to be a long race. In the past, we were very strong in qualifying, struggling a bit in the race. This year, we have a stronger race car, so I hope we can finally make it tomorrow.”
An absolutely breathtaking hour on the streets of Baku 😮💨
Here’s the full classification from qualifying 📋#F1 #AzerbaijanGP pic.twitter.com/eA19hzlbXH
— Formula 1 (@F1) September 14, 2024
Top photo: NATALIA KOLESNIKOVA/AFP via Getty Images
