Azerbaijan Grand Prix: Leclerc beats Verstappen to pole position

The Azerbaijan Grand Prix is unrecorded connected 5 Live and the BBC Sport website

Ferrari's Charles Leclerc became the archetypal non-Red Bull operator to instrumentality a rod presumption this twelvemonth with a stunning thigh astatine the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.

Lewis Hamilton took 5th up of Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso.

Hamilton's Mercedes team-mate George Russell failed to marque it into the last league and volition commencement 11th.

Leclerc, who excels astatine thoroughfare tracks, has present acceptable rod presumption astatine the high-speed Baku thoroughfare circuit for the past 3 years and this 1 could beryllium the champion of the lot.

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Red Bull person dominated the commencement of the season, taking rod for and winning each 3 races truthful far, portion Ferrari person struggled, particularly successful races.

But Leclerc went toe-to-toe with Verstappen and Perez and came retired connected top.

Underlining the prime of his performance, the 25-year-old was a monolithic 0.813secs quicker than team-mate Sainz successful 4th place. The Spaniard said helium "wasn't feeling rather astatine location with the car and couldn't get into my groove and was lacking confidence".

His tricky day, which included a fig of off-track moments, meant helium had lone 1 acceptable of caller tyres successful last qualifying, putting him astatine a further disadvantage.

Leclerc said: "For definite I'm surprised. We came into the play reasoning it would beryllium a large play if we are successful beforehand of Mercedes and Aston successful qualifying and successful the extremity we are connected pole. I was precise blessed with the lap.

"We indispensable not hide our contention car is inactive down the Red Bulls truthful it volition beryllium hard to support the pb but that is the target."

Leclerc has go renowned for his velocity implicit 1 lap, which often seems to enactment the Ferrari successful grid positions it does not deserve. Baku 2 years ago, erstwhile Ferrari's car was not competitive, was 1 example; this appears to beryllium another.

Asked whether it was his champion 19 rod positions successful F1, Leclerc said: "I consciousness similar whenever you person the excitement of rod you privation to say: 'Yes.' I consciousness similar 2021 it was adjacent much of a astonishment but it was decidedly a truly bully lap.

"On thoroughfare circuits, for the past thigh you enactment everything successful and spot however it goes. It was a adjacent telephone successful Turn One, but wide it was rather a cleanable lap."

Perez described it arsenic a "tremendous lap" by Leclerc, and it was a invited boost for a Ferrari squad who person had a hard commencement to the season, particularly for Leclerc, who has retired from 2 of the archetypal 3 races.

A choky conflict astatine the front

Verstappen and Leclerc had acceptable the nonstop aforesaid clip connected their archetypal runs, but the Dutchman was classified up due to the fact that helium posted it first.

But helium brushed the partition connected his last thigh astatine Turn Two and could not marque up the clip implicit the remainder of the circuit.

He said: "It is pugnacious to enactment a full thigh unneurotic astir present and the past tally was possibly not the cleanest. I tried thing a spot antithetic connected the retired thigh and I didn't truly consciousness it was amended and erstwhile you person that feeling already you are not arsenic assured arsenic the headdress earlier and that's wherefore the thigh clip did nary travel retired of it.

"But we cognize we person a speedy contention car truthful each successful each it is not excessively bad."

A caller look to this F1 weekend

This is the archetypal 'sprint' play of the twelvemonth and it runs to a caller format to those events successful the past 2 years. This qualifying league decided the grid for the expansive prix connected Sunday.

Saturday is simply a full abstracted day, starting with a qualifying league - known arsenic the 'sprint shoot-out' - that sets the grid for the shorter 'sprint' contention aboriginal on.

Hamilton's 5th spot was a beardown effect successful the extremity for a Mercedes squad who had appeared to beryllium struggling for velocity until the last league of qualifying, the Baku way exposing the car's weaknesses.

Hamilton had been 0.3secs slower than Alonso successful 2nd qualifying but helium snuck up of his aged rival by 0.076secs. Alonso said helium had immoderate problems with his DRS overtaking aid, "which outgo a fewer 10ths".

Hamilton said: "Timing and getting into the bushed is not casual connected this track. In Q2, I struggled. Q3 tally 1 was a truly saccharine lap. Just matched it connected the 2nd run, needed a small much clip to get up of the Ferrari."

Russell said Mercedes "just weren't accelerated capable this weekend" and that helium had made a mistake connected his last thigh successful the 2nd session, from which Hamilton lone conscionable progressed.

Hamilton was conscionable 0.004secs quicker than Russell successful the 2nd session, but that tiny borderline was the quality betwixt making it into the apical 10 and not.

Once there, Hamilton made the astir of it, connected the archetypal juncture helium has out-qualified Russell this season.

Lando Norris impressed successful the heavy updated McLaren to enactment up seventh, and determination was an upset from Yuki Tsunoda, who enactment the Alpha Tauri eighth, by acold their champion show of the play truthful far.

Aston Martin's Lance Stroll and Norris' team-mate Oscar Piastri completed the apical 10.

Tsunoda's team-mate Nyck de Vries crashed aboriginal successful the archetypal league astatine Turn Three, bringing retired the archetypal of 2 reddish flags, and qualified last. Shortly aft the archetypal league resumed, Alpine's Pierre Gasly did the same, causing different stoppage.

It made for a trying time for Alpine, who had spent the clip betwixt signifier and qualifying repairing Gasly's car and fitting a caller motor and gearbox aft a large fire.