F1 – Leclerc takes fourth straight Baku pole ahead of Piastri and Sainz as Norris exits in Q1

Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc powered to a fourth consecutive pole place on the Baku Metropolis Circuit, three tenths of a second away from Oscar Piastri, with Carlos Sainz taking third in qualifying for the 2024 FIA Components 1 Azerbaijan Grand Prix within the second Ferrari. Nevertheless, Purple Bull’s championship chief Max Verstappen solely managed P6 and title Lando Norris exited in Q1 in an eventful session. 

“It is certainly one of my favorite tracks of the season. I actually prefer it,” stated Leclerc after taking his 26^th profession pole. “In qualifying, till Q3, it was all about attempting to remain so far as potential off the partitions. After which in that final lap, I went for it a bit extra. And the lap time got here very properly. I imply, the automobile felt actually good and every thing felt nice. So, yeah, it is wonderful to be on pole.”

Initially of Q1 it was Purple Bull’s Sergio Pérez who set the early tempo, with the Mexican taking high spot  with a lap of 1:43.436, simply over two tenths away from Verstappen. Leclerc then cut up the Purple Bulls. with Piastri slotting into fourth place forward of McLaren team-mate Norris.

Pérez went straight right into a second run and an improved time of 1:43.436 returned him to the highest of the order forward of Sainz whose personal second run netted him a time of 1:42.517. And with a 3rd flyer on the identical set of tyres, Pérez then lowered the benchmark to 1:43.213. 

Nevertheless, with 5 minutes left Leclerc moved nicely clear, posting a 1:42.775 to eclipse the Purple Bull driver by greater than 4 tenths of a second earlier than Russell additionally demoted the Mexican. Pérez opted to sit down out the ultimate runs and although he slipped to P10 he eased by to Q2. 

On the high of the Q1 order Leclerc’s mid-session 1:42.775 allowed him to maintain maintain of P1 forward of Albon and Piastri, however in a shock finish to the session, there was no place within the second session for the Australian’s McLaren team-mate Lando Norris. The Beiton’s last flyer seemed to be hampered by yellow flags and he slid out of the session in P17. 

Verstappen and Pérez have been once more out on monitor early at the beginning of the second session and this time it was the Dutch driver who set the tempo with a lap of 1:42.042 that put him 0.221s forward of his team-mate. Piastri slotted into third place, with Russell fourth. Leclerc then managed to separate the Bulls, 0.014s off Max, whereas Sainz slotted into fourth 0.2s behind Pérez. 

And the highest three held agency by the ultimate runs. Pérez once more opted out of the ultimate laps and when Leclerc backed out of his try, Verstappen additionally selected to ease off on the finish of his last flyer and he went by to Q3 in high spot due to his first run time forward of the Ferrari. 

On the different finish of the order, Haas’ Oliver Bearman dropped out in P11 forward of RB’s Yuki Tsunoda, Alpine’s Pierre Gasly, the second Haas of Nico Hülkenberg, Aston Martin’s Lace Stroll and the second RB of Daniel Ricciardo. 

Within the first runs of the highest 10 shootout, Leclerc put Ferrari on provisional pole, with the Monegasque driver posting a lap of 1:41.610 to take high spot, two tenths of a second forward of Sainz, with Piastri third forward of Russell. Pérez slotted into P5 due to a gap lap of 1:42.045 with Verstappen two tenths additional again in sixth. 

Initially of the ultimate runs, there was a wierd incident when Williams’ Alex Albon left the Williams storage with the airbox fan nonetheless in place. The Thai driver was pressured to drag over on the pit exit the place he manually dragged the fan out and threw it overboard. The delay would result in an investigation for unsafe launch and prevented him from crossing the road to begin a last flyer. 

Forward of him, there was no stopping Leclerc. The Ferrari driver proved unbeatable within the last flyers, claiming a fourth straight Baku pole with a lap of 1:41.365, three tenths forward of Piastri and virtually half a second forward of third-place Sainz. 

Pérez, again on kind on a circuit at which he has received twice up to now, put in a robust last flyer to assert fourth spot on the grid forward of Russell, however Verstappen, may solely handle sixth on the grid, alongside Hamilton and forward of Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso, the spectacular Franco Colapinto of Williams and the unlucky Albon. 

2024 FIA Components 1 Azerbaijan Grand Prix – Qualifying 
1 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:41.365 – –
2 Oscar Piastri McLaren/Mercedes 1:41.686 0.321 0.317
3 Carlos Sainz Ferrari 1:41.805 0.440 0.434
4 Sergio Pérez Purple Bull/Honda RBPT 1:41.813 0.448 0.442
5 George Russell Mercedes 1:41.874 0.509 0.502
6 Max Verstappen Purple Bull/Honda RBPT 1:42.023 0.658 0.649
7 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:42.289 0.924 0.912
8 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin/Mercedes 1:42.369 1.004 0.990
9 Franco Colapinto Williams/Mercedes 1:42.530 1.165 1.149
10 Alexander Albon Williams/Mercedes 1:42.859 1.494 1.474
11 Oliver Bearman Haas/Ferrari 1:42.968 1.603 1.581
12 Yuki Tsunoda RB/Honda RBPT 1:43.035 1.670 1.648
13 Pierre Gasly Alpine/Renault 1:43.179 1.814 1.790
14 Nico Hülkenberg Haas/Ferrari 1:43.191 1.826 1.801
15 Lance Stroll Aston Martin/Mercedes 1:43.404 2.039 2.012
16 Daniel Ricciardo RB/Honda RBPT 1:43.547 2.182 2.153
17 Lando Norris McLaren/Mercedes 1:43.609 2.244 2.214
18 Valtteri Bottas Sauber/Ferrari 1:43.618 2.253 2.223
19 Zhou Guanyu Sauber/Ferrari 1:44.246 2.881 2.842
20 Esteban Ocon Alpine/Renault 1:44.504 3.139 3.097