Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc grabbed a shock pole place for the Azerbaijan Formula One Grand Prix on Saturday in a qualifying session suffering from crashes and 4 purple flag stoppages.
Mercedes’ seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton certified alongside on the entrance row, with Red Bull’s championship chief Max Verstappen annoyed to be beginning third.
“It was just a stupid qualifying to be honest,” mentioned the Dutch driver, who’s 4 factors away from Hamilton after 5 races.
The pole was Leclerc’s second in a row and as soon as once more got here on account of the ultimate session being stopped early by a purple automotive banging into the boundaries.
At dwelling in Monaco two weeks in the past it was Leclerc who set the quickest lap after which crashed, and in Baku it was a smash involving workforce mate Carlos Sainz that introduced an finish to the observe motion.
Leclerc owed a few of his time of 1 minute 41.218 seconds to Hamilton, whose automotive offered a hefty aerodynamic ‘tow’ down the lengthy straight.Â
“I think we would have been there or thereabouts for pole without the slipstream, so it’s a good day. I did not expect to be as competitive as we were today,” mentioned the Monegasque.
“I think it’s going to be difficult to keep these two behind me,” he added of the title frontrunners.
Hamilton has a file 100 pole positions however his putting nonetheless got here as a shock, with Mercedes struggling for tempo by means of apply and Red Bull on high.
“This is such a monumental result for us because we’ve been struggling like you couldn’t believe all weekend,” mentioned the Briton, who was solely eleventh in opening apply.
“We’ve moved around, made so many changes, over these two days. Just chasing our tail and it’s been so difficult.”
JUST CHAOSÂ
The first section of qualifying was twice stopped, with Canadian Lance Stroll smashing his Aston Martin into the boundaries at flip 15 and Alfa Romeo’s Antonio Giovinazzi following minutes later.
“I was kind of committed to the corner and at that point it just pushed me a bit deep and I hit the wall,” mentioned Stroll, son of workforce proprietor Lawrence Stroll.
Hamilton had been quickest in that opening session forward of the 2 Red Bulls.
Australian Daniel Ricciardo then crashed his McLaren after locking up at flip three in the second section, bringing out the purple flags for the third time.
That crash left Aston Martin’s 4 instances world champion Sebastian Vettel cursing his misfortune in eleventh place after being denied the possibility to go sooner.
The remaining crash concerned Sainz and AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda.
Tsunoda’s workforce mate Pierre Gasly, quickest in remaining apply, begins fourth with Sainz certified in fifth and McLaren’s Lando Norris sixth on a road circuit with a repute for drama and the place overtaking is feasible.
Norris was summoned to stewards afterwards for failing to return to the pits instantly purple flags have been waved, and was handed a 3 place grid drop – lower than the traditional 5 – with three penalty factors.
“Just chaos really,” the Briton mentioned of the session. “I slowed down straight away, I didn’t feel like I did anything wrong.”
Verstappen’s workforce mate Sergio Perez will transfer as much as sixth with Tsunoda seventh and Alpine’s Fernando Alonso eighth. Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas certified tenth.
“It was messy, it was difficult to get into the rhythm, into the pace,” commented double world champion Alonso of the session.
“It’s a little bit unfair probably that the people that crashed. They repair the car and they start in that position tomorrow,” added the Spaniard.
It remained to be seen whether or not Sainz and Tsunoda’s automobiles had suffered gearbox harm, which might incur grid drops if modified.Â
