F1 Azerbaijan GP: Leclerc beats Red Bulls for grand prix pole

The Ferrari driver secured his first pole of the year on his final effort of the session, a 1m40.203s, having ratcheted up his pace from a strong opening run in the last part of qualifying to prove unassailable for the two Red Bull drivers.

On their first flying runs of Q3, Verstappen and Leclerc set identical times - both crossing the timing line with a 1m40.445s apiece, with Perez a tenth behind. Leclerc had the edge over Verstappen in the opening sector, but the Dutchman could fight back over the remaining sectors.

Leclerc was the first of the trio to begin his final hot lap, crucially flipping the Red Bull's advantage in the second sector to go over two tenths faster than his first run.

Perez went quicker in the first sector than Leclerc, but was comparatively slower in the second sector and could only match the Monegasque in the final part of the lap.

Verstappen's final sector was quickest, but the second sector once again proved to be the difference; the reigning champion could not find enough time over the remaining parts of the lap to overturn that disadvantage.

A 1m40.391s was enough for Verstappen to beat Perez to the front row, however, and the latter will start Sunday's race next to Carlos Sainz.

Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing RB19 (Photo by: Andrew Ferraro / Motorsport Images)

Sainz had been unable to improve on his first lap, a 1m41.016s, but it was enough to keep a second-row slot away from Lewis Hamilton.

The Mercedes driver had improved in Q3 having come perilously close to being knocked out in Q2, with the W14 matching the leaders' pace in the final sector.

He starts alongside Fernando Alonso on the grid for the grand prix, the Aston Martin driver losing time in the middle sector relative to his former McLaren team-mate.

Lando Norris led the line for McLaren, which had got two cars into the final part of qualifying having been bolstered by new updates, with the Somerset-born racer qualifying seventh ahead of an impressive Yuki Tsunoda.

Lance Stroll struggled with an unresponsive DRS and could only manage ninth on the grid, ahead of Oscar Piastri - who completed the top half of the field.

George Russell was the biggest casualty of Q2, having been disposed of through late laps from Piastri and Tsunoda, and the Briton was not able to improve on his own fastest lap to break back into the top 10.

He crucially remained clear of Esteban Ocon, who reported a brush with the wall in a messy session for the Alpine team, while Alex Albon could not break out of the drop zone despite impressive straight-line pace in his Williams. Valtteri Bottas and Logan Sargeant were the other casualties from Q2.

George Russell, Mercedes F1 W14 (Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images)

Nyck de Vries buried his AlphaTauri in the Turn 3 exit wall half-way through Q1 to bring out a red flag, without a representative lap on the board. The Dutchman had to be pushed back into the garage while preparing to get out on track, citing a brake by wire issue.

After the session resumed, Pierre Gasly - having barely factored in practice after suffering a hydraulic leak - was next to produce a stoppage having also swiped the wall at Turn 3, tearing off his right-hand sidepod and part of his rear wing.

Carlos Sainz had his own near miss in the meantime, enduring a slide on the exit of Turn 1 but managed to keep his car out of the wall.

Both Haas cars were kicked out in the first part of qualifying, Kevin Magnussen having suffered with an engine issue earlier in the session. Although the Dane reported that the car felt fine, his team told him not to risk it and pulled him into the garage, leaving him unable to better his time from the opening phase of the session.

Nico Hulkenberg was on the brink of the drop as Alfa Romeo pair Zhou Guanyu and Bottas occupied the elimination zone, and the German's poor first sector effectively killed off his chances of evading an early bath.

The Alfa pair initially escaped the bottom five, but Piastri's final effort was enough to push Zhou back into 16th, two-hundredths of a second off Ocon.

F1 Azerbaijan GP - Qualifying results

Q3

Cla	Driver		Chassis	Engine	Time	Gap	Interval
1	Charles Leclerc		Ferrari	Ferrari	1'40.203
2	Max Verstappen		Red Bull	Red Bull	1'40.391	0.188	0.188
3	Sergio Perez		Red Bull	Red Bull	1'40.495	0.292	0.104
4	Carlos Sainz		Ferrari	Ferrari	1'41.016	0.813	0.521
5	Lewis Hamilton		Mercedes	Mercedes	1'41.177	0.974	0.161
6	Fernando Alonso		Aston Martin	Mercedes	1'41.253	1.050	0.076
7	Lando Norris		McLaren	Mercedes	1'41.281	1.078	0.028
8	Yuki Tsunoda		AlphaTauri	Red Bull	1'41.581	1.378	0.300
9	Lance Stroll		Aston Martin	Mercedes	1'41.611	1.408	0.030
10	Oscar Piastri		McLaren	Mercedes	1'41.611	1.408	0.000
View full results

Q2

Cla	Driver		Chassis	Engine	Time	Gap	Interval
1	Max Verstappen		Red Bull	Red Bull	1'40.822
2	Charles Leclerc		Ferrari	Ferrari	1'41.037	0.215	0.215
3	Sergio Perez		Red Bull	Red Bull	1'41.131	0.309	0.094
4	Carlos Sainz		Ferrari	Ferrari	1'41.369	0.547	0.238
5	Fernando Alonso		Aston Martin	Mercedes	1'41.370	0.548	0.001
6	Lando Norris		McLaren	Mercedes	1'41.485	0.663	0.115
7	Yuki Tsunoda		AlphaTauri	Red Bull	1'41.569	0.747	0.084
8	Lance Stroll		Aston Martin	Mercedes	1'41.576	0.754	0.007
9	Oscar Piastri		McLaren	Mercedes	1'41.636	0.814	0.060
10	Lewis Hamilton		Mercedes	Mercedes	1'41.650	0.828	0.014
11	George Russell		Mercedes	Mercedes	1'41.654	0.832	0.004
12	Esteban Ocon		Alpine	Renault	1'41.798	0.976	0.144
13	Alex Albon		Williams	Mercedes	1'41.818	0.996	0.020
14	Valtteri Bottas		Alfa Romeo	Ferrari	1'42.259	1.437	0.441
15	Logan Sargeant		Williams	Mercedes	1'42.395	1.573	0.136
View full results

Q1

Cla	Driver		Chassis	Engine	Time	Gap	Interval
1	Charles Leclerc		Ferrari	Ferrari	1'41.269
2	Max Verstappen		Red Bull	Red Bull	1'41.398	0.129	0.129
3	Fernando Alonso		Aston Martin	Mercedes	1'41.720	0.451	0.322
4	Sergio Perez		Red Bull	Red Bull	1'41.756	0.487	0.036
5	George Russell		Mercedes	Mercedes	1'42.073	0.804	0.317
6	Lewis Hamilton		Mercedes	Mercedes	1'42.113	0.844	0.040
7	Lando Norris		McLaren	Mercedes	1'42.154	0.885	0.041
8	Alex Albon		Williams	Mercedes	1'42.171	0.902	0.017
9	Carlos Sainz		Ferrari	Ferrari	1'42.197	0.928	0.026
10	Yuki Tsunoda		AlphaTauri	Red Bull	1'42.234	0.965	0.037
11	Logan Sargeant		Williams	Mercedes	1'42.242	0.973	0.008
12	Oscar Piastri		McLaren	Mercedes	1'42.455	1.186	0.213
13	Lance Stroll		Aston Martin	Mercedes	1'42.524	1.255	0.069
14	Valtteri Bottas		Alfa Romeo	Ferrari	1'42.582	1.313	0.058
15	Esteban Ocon		Alpine	Renault	1'42.622	1.353	0.040
16	Zhou Guanyu		Alfa Romeo	Ferrari	1'42.642	1.373	0.020
17	Nico Hulkenberg		Haas	Ferrari	1'42.755	1.486	0.113
18	Kevin Magnussen		Haas	Ferrari	1'43.417	2.148	0.662
19	Pierre Gasly		Alpine	Renault	1'44.853	3.584	1.436
20	Nyck de Vries		AlphaTauri	Red Bull	1'55.282	14.013	10.429
View full results