Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc made it back-to-back pole positions during an eventful qualifying session for Formula 1’s Azerbaijan Grand Prix, which featured four red flags.
Leclerc clocked a time of 1:41.218s during the opening stages of Q3 at the Baku City Circuit, having picked up a double tow from the Mercedes drivers ahead on track, who were preparing their respective hot laps.
Leclerc’s time was never troubled thereafter as drivers were unable to record a second Q3 push lap owing to AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda crashing at Turn 3.
Tsunoda carried too much speed into the corner and hit the wall, while the pursuing Carlos Sainz went off in avoidance, wiping the front end off the Ferrari SF21, bringing out the red flags.
With insufficient time left on the clock for drivers to compete another lap the decision was made not to restart the session.
It secured pole position for Leclerc, the ninth of his career, and his first in Azerbaijan.
Hamilton caps Mercedes recovery
Mercedes had struggled for speed throughout practice but re-emerged as a contender through qualifying, at least in the hands of Lewis Hamilton, as they went for diverging set-ups.
Amid tyre warm-up issues Mercedes regularly ran two warm-up laps through the session and at the start of Q3 Hamilton was effectively given a tow by team-mate Valtteri Bottas.
The lap was sufficient for Hamilton to take second on the grid, crucially one place ahead of title rival Max Verstappen, while team player Bottas was left languishing at the foot of the top 10.
Gasly excels for AlphaTauri
Pierre Gasly led the way during final practice and equalled his best career position by taking fourth on the grid, ensuring there were four different drivers in the top four positions.
Gasly’s time was just 0.002s down on Red Bull rival Verstappen and the AlphaTauri driver was up on Leclerc’s provisional pole before losing time in the final sector.
Despite the crash which ended the session Tsunoda captured the best grid position of his career by finishing in eighth place.
Sainz was fifth while Lando Norris provisionally qualified sixth.
Norris remains under investigation for an infringement in Q1 after he stayed out on track when the session was stopped – with the red flags shown just as he approached pit entry.
Sergio Perez, who topped Friday’s running, was a subdued seventh, while Fernando Alonso returned to the top 10 for the first time since Bahrain as he claimed ninth.
Ricciardo shunt ends Q2
Daniel Ricciardo’s difficult run continued as he crashed out of Q2 – causing the session to be halted early.
Ricciardo had been trying to improve on 13th but his accident not only wrecked his day – it also denied some rivals the opportunity to improve.
Chief among them were former team-mates Sebastian Vettel and Esteban Ocon, who finished 11th and 12th respectively.
Alfa Romeo’s Kimi Raikkonen and Williams’ George Russell both made Q2 but finished as the slowest competitors.
Williams pulled off a quick repair job to even get Russell in the session after carrying out a full power unit change following an issue in final practice.
Lengthy Q1 amid accidents
Q1 took almost 40 minutes to complete owing to two lengthy stoppages caused by separate accidents at Turn 15.
Lance Stroll clobbered the wall on his first flying lap, causing damage to the right-front of the Aston Martin AMR21, and when the session resumed Alfa Romeo’s Antonio Giovinazzi made a near-identical mistake.
Stroll and Giovinazzi were thus left without a time and are set to form the back row of the grid on Sunday.
Nicholas Latifi was unable to match team-mate Russell and was left in 16th, ahead of the Haas drivers, who were adrift of the pack.
Mick Schumacher again out-qualified Nikita Mazepin, with less than a tenth splitting the rookies, but they were over a second down on nearest rival Latifi.
Formula 1’s 51-lap Azerbaijan Grand Prix is scheduled for 16:00 local time.
[motorsport_result id=’64895′]
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