Baku GP, Qualifying: Leclerc’s Ferrari on pole ahead of Piastri, Sainz 3rd

Fourth consecutive pole position for Leclerc in Baku. Whether he is Azeri or Monegasque, the pilot of the Ferrari? Charles precedes Oscar Piastri on McLaren, the other driver of the Maranello team, Carlos Sainz (who on a track he doesn’t like failed to paint the front row completely red by just 199 thousandths) and Sergio Perez, winner of this GP in 2021 and 2023. In the third row George Russell on Mercedes and Max Verstappen. Lando Norris’s 17th time was sensational, even eliminated in Q1.

Leclerc’s joy: “Always great feelings”

Leclerc was always very fast, this Saturday: the biggest risk, in hindsight, was the reprimand received in the third free practice for not slowing down under yellow flags. No penalty and the green light to hunt for pole: “The time – he explained – came very naturally to me: I just had to push hard and keep away from the walls. The pace has always been there, here in Azerbaijan, even if we had to solve a few small problems since Friday, which forced us to chase. But the car gave me excellent sensations, the accident in the first free practice didn’t take away my confidence but I knew I had to recover ground and pace”.

Norris’ mistake forces him to the backline

On the front row with Leclerc will be a McLaren, that of Oscar Piastri. The competitive car, however, did not save Lando Norris from disaster, who is chasing Verstappen in the drivers’ standings with a 62-point deficit. The Briton finished with a terrible 17th time, a victim of bad luck, which caused a yellow flag to wave in front of his eyes – decidedly inappropriate: at that moment Ocon was proceeding slowly but was not a danger – at the moment of the decisive lap on a track that was getting faster, minute by minute. “The car was going well – Norris said on the spur of the moment – ​​but I shouldn’t have made that second attempt: I should have achieved a time that would have put me safe in the first, unfortunately that’s how it went”.

Verstappen’s nervousness: Red Bull can’t find the thread

The other fact that stands out is the placement of the two Red Bull drivers. Of course, Perez is definitely at ease on the angled curves of the Baku street circuit, as demonstrated by the precedents, but Verstappen did his part. Always nervous (and convinced that the car was going “nowhere”), the Dutchman preceded everyone in Q2 but then made a very serious mistake in the first attempt of Q3, a spectacular “drift” that took him almost off the track, and then appeared dull and not up to par at the time of the decisive lap.

Bravissimo Colapinto, surreal accident for Albon

Formula One opens up to the future with Franco Colapinto. The Argentine, 21, entered Q1 in the second Grand Prix of his career, after his debut with Williams, in Monza, following Sergeant’s dismissal. Thanks to him, of course, but also to the team, capable of bringing the other driver, Alexander Albon, among the ten best, who however was the victim of a sensational error in the pits. They made him go out on the track without removing the air box from his car, the component behind the driver’s head that serves to manage and regulate the flow of air directed to the engine. Albon stopped immediately, removed the piece and threw it to the stewards. But now he faces a penalty on the grid.