Formula 1 in Baku: in a close fight between Ferrari and Red Bull, pole goes to Leclerc

Charles Leclerc once again took pole position, sixth in eight races. The Monegasque set the best time on his last lap of the Baku city circuit starting the Azerbaijani Grand Prix first this Sunday at 8, with Max Verstappen, the reigning champion, next to him in line, and followed by Checo Pérez (3rd), the other Red Bull driver, and Carlos Sainz, fourth with Ferrari.

The activity began with the classic fight for first place between Ferrari and Red Bull, where Max Verstappen managed for the first time at the weekend to beat his teammate, Checo Pérez, and relegated both Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz in third and fourth place remaining with 1 in Q1.

However, with two and a half minutes to go, the first red flag and first serious accident of the weekend within the Baku walls came when Lance Stroll crashed his Aston Martin at Turn 2, breaking the wing and front wheel. . a few moments after losing the car at turn 7, complicating the expectations of the Williams of Alex Albon, Nicholas Latifi, Valtteri Bottas with the Alfa Romeo -with which his teammate Zhou was sixth- and Mick Schumacher, in addition to the Canadian who in that point they were out of Q2.

When Q1 was relaunched, after clearing the track and removing the car from a doomed Stroll, the struggle was against time and traffic. The single row at the exit of the pitlane was commanded by Mercedes but there were those who overtook the cars to have the time necessary to take a quick lap and take the time to continue the race.

And only one succeeded: Bottas moved up to 15th place and left out Kevin Magnussen, for whom the two Haas, the two Williams and an Aston Martin greeted each other in the first phase of qualifying, in which Pierre Gasly, who with the renewal of Checo Pérez in Red Bull doubts his renewal in Alpha Tauri, was fifth, behind the poker of the F1 rulers. Lewis Hamilton, who celebrated on the net 15 years after his first win in the category, was 11th, more than a second behind Verstappen, his rival in 2021.

In Q2, meanwhile, the first to take to the track were the Red Bulls, while the Ferraris continued in the pits, waiting for the group to clear the pitlane. Pérez was the first to set the best time (1m42s258) but Verstappen took advantage of the aspiration and lowered it by 31 thousandths, to be once again the best in the standings.

But Ferrari does not give up and responds with everything: Sainz goes to the top of the standings slowing the clock in 1m42s088, 94 thousandths faster than Leclerc, who still finishes second, always ahead of the Red Bulls and despite losing the tail of his car before enter the longest straight of this season’s circuits.

In their first attempt to enter Q3, Hamilton (Mercedes), Esteban Ocon (Alpine), Daniel Ricciardo (McLaren) and the Alfa Romeos of Zhou and Bottas were the five destined for exile. But an accident was still missing: Vettel lost control of the other Aston Martin and crashed into the defensive barrier at the exit of turn 15, which fortunately did not trigger the red flag and the cars were able to continue to turn. .

At that point, Pérez had yet another time saved to beat Sainz: with a time of 1m41s955, he was beaten by 133 thousandths with 5 minutes left in Q2. And although he made a record in the first set, Leclerc had to settle for second place, 91 thousandths, leaving behind both the Spaniard and the Dutch Verstappen.

As the fight for the top continued, those still in contention were also at stake, including Hamilton, who was cautioned for going too slow. “Sometimes I don’t know what you expect from me”, he said in the radio communication with his engineer, just before making the time that put him in the shelter (6th) and eliminated Lando Norris (11th) – who has raised in his last attempt-, in addition to teammate Ricciardo, Ocon, Zhou and Bottas.

Then came the most awaited moment of qualifying: the one that defined the pole position. With the four champions of the category on the track (Verstappen (4th), Hamilton (6th), Vettel (7th) and Alonso (9th), the first to open the lap was Gasly, followed by Mercedes and Russell of Hamilton , but Ferrari had been pushing, so much so that Sainz is first, followed at 47 thousandths by Leclerc – who had set a record in the first sector and seemed destined to 1. Pérez and Verstappen then had to settle for third and fourth place, with Gasly the best of rest before the last start.

Pushing with the extra danger of Azerbaijan’s road walls, small mistakes allowed Sainz to be the poleman at the start of Q3. Perhaps this is why Ferraris were the first to go in search of the best time in qualifying. The Spanish record of 1m41s814 was soon improved by a very fast Leclerc who finished his best lap in 1m41s359, which neither Verstappen – third 347 thousandths – nor Pérez – second at 282 – could improve, relegating Sainz to fourth place.