#AzerbaijanGP Qualifying: @CharlesLeclerc clinches pole after chaotic end. #F1

Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc has claimed pole position in a chaotic end to Q3 at the Azerbaijan GP with Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton second and Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen third.

 

 

The Monegasque-youngster lead the time-sheets after the initial runs in the final qualifying segment, but AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda crashed with just a few seconds remaining on the clock – and Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz also hitting the barriers just behind Tsunoda – secured Leclerc’s ninth-career pole position ahead of Hamilton and Verstappen.

 

Qualifying had also been disrupted and delayed by three other red flags, caused by Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll, Alfa Romeo Racing’s Antonio Giovinazzi crashing in Q1 and McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo doing the same in the middle stage.

 

Leclerc’s 1:41.218 initial Q3 flyer came as he lead the pack of ten cars around, but crucially picked up a solid slipstream when he caught up with Hamilton – completing a second warm-up running behind Mercedes team-mate Valtteri Bottas – in the closing sequences of the Baku City Street Circuit.

 

 

This saw Leclerc with a 0.232 second advantage over Hamilton when the Silver Arrows drivers did complete the first of what was meant to be two hot-laps in Q3, with Bottas wounding up down the order as he had towed team-mate Hamilton.

 

Red Bull, favourites to claim pole, ended up with Verstappen taking third as he was unable to match Leclerc in the initial Q3 flying laps despite being towed by team-mate Sergio Perez.

 

AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly qualified in fourth place as both drivers for the Faenza-based outfit completed their first Q3 laps at the midway point of proceedings whilst the rest of the top ten were in the pits preparing for one last run that ultimately ended under the red flag.

 

Tsunoda towed his team-mate around – the Japanese driver’s lap was good enough for eighth, with Bottas relegated to tenth.

 

Along with the rest of the top ten runners, the Finn never got the chance to improve as Tsunoda – who had remained out for another go following a cool-down lap to prepare where the AlphaTauri pairing became mixed with the rest of the pack, now getting ready for their final flyers – crashed at turn three – the 90-degree left hander at the end of the back straight early in sector one.

 

Tsunoda braked too late and locked his front-left tyre, which sent the AlphaTauri driver nose-first into the barriers, with Sainz losing focus as he followed the Japanese driver’s lock up and crash, the Ferrari’s rear swung around and it’s front wing was knocked off after hitting the wall on the inside of the turn three run-off area.

 

Q3 ended with a second left on the board, Leclerc, who had been leading the pack through the final sector, abandoned their flyers, secured pole position by the halt.

 

Behind the Monegasque-youngster, was Hamilton (2nd), Verstappen (3rd), Gasly (4th), followed by Sainz (5th), McLaren’s Lando Norris (6th), Perez (7th), while Alpine F1 Team’s Fernando Alonso split Tsunoda and Bottas in ninth.

 

McLaren’s Norris is also currently under investigation for a possible red flag infringement during the first qualifying segment.

 

Q2 ended a-minute-and-a-half early due to the other McLaren MCL35M entry of Daniel Ricciardo who locked up his front-left and went straight into the wall on the outside of the third corner.

 

The MCL35M racer’s right front was knocked off and the second stage of qualifying was not resumed, which meant several drivers – including Ricciardo – were eliminated based on their initial efforts.

 

Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel was annoyed by missing a second Q3 appearance by 0.029 seconds as he ended up 11th, in-front of Alpine F1 Team’s Esteban Ocon, who clipped his right-rear tyre exiting the same corner as Ricciardo, who was 13th, would later crash.

 

Alfa Romeo Racing’s Kimi Raikkonen qualified 14th and ahead of Williams Racing’s George Russell who wound up 15th and maintained his 100%-record of Q1-Q2 for the Grove-based squad in the 2021 campaign.

 

This came after the Briton missed the opening minutes of Q1 as his team switched him back to an older power-unit as the one he had been using in Free Practice Three suffered a water pump leak and needed to be removed.

 

In the first segment of qualifying, the incidents involving Stroll and Giovinazzi saw the session last 40 minutes.

 

Both drivers whacked the wall at the quick-left turn 15, the corner heading downhill at the end of the middle sector where Leclerc and Verstappen both crashed in FP2 and FP3 respectively – with Stroll’s happening just three minutes into the session.

 

The Canadian hit the wall with his right-front after sliding to his crash from understeer.

 

It’s impact saw the suspension snap and Stroll pulled over to the inside of the final corner, with the red flags waving as Leclerc had completed the only timed-lap, as he was running at the end of the field.

 

After the 12-minute stoppage, the session resumed, with the Mercedes duo switching from medium rubber to softs that their rivals were using, but proceedings were halted once more five minutes later following Giovinazzi’s crash.

 

The Italian locked his left-front and the Alfa Romeo went further into the barriers than Stroll, with Giovinazzi stopping immediately with the right-side of his C41 racer heavily damaged.

 

The red flags returned when the Mercedes pairing among those still to post a lap-time, although Hamilton on his C5’s blasted to the top of the time-sheets to end Q1 fastest.

 

When Q1 ended, Williams Racing’s Nicholas Latifi was 16th and in-front of Haas F1 Team duo Mick Schumacher and Nikita Mazepin.

 

You can read the full Formula 1 Azerbaijan Grand Prix 2021 Qualifying Results Classifications at the link: https://www.formula1.com/en/results.html/2021/races/1068/azerbaijan/qualifying.html

 

---

2021 Azerbaijan GP Qualifying – The Top Three

 

 

Pole Position – Charles Leclerc, #16, Scuderia Ferrari, SF21:

“There were two or three corners where I did mistakes, but then I had the tow in the last sector which helped a little bit. I was not expecting to be as competitive as we were today, we were helped with the red flag but anyway. It definitely feels very good, a pole is a pole.”

 

 

2nd – Lewis Hamilton, #44, Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team, F1 W12:

“The lap was okay. We definitely weren’t expecting that, we made so many changes, we didn’t take no for an answer. The work overnight and between the sessions was amazing from the team. Working with this car, it’s the biggest challenge we’ve had in a long time.”

 

3rd – Max Verstappen, #33, Red Bull Racing-Honda, RB16B:

“It is what it is. Everything was working out fine, I just hope tomorrow in the race we can look after our tyres and have a good race. It’s still all to play for – as you can see from qualifying, a lot of things are happening…”

 

In the earlier FP3 session it was Gasly on top of the time-sheets ahead of Perez with Hamilton third and both Ferrari’s of Leclerc and Sainz rounding out the top five. You can see the full Formula 1 Azerbaijan Grand Prix 2021 Free Practice Three Results Classification at the link: https://www.formula1.com/en/results.html/2021/races/1068/azerbaijan/practice-3.html

 

---

#AzerbaijanGP FP2: @SChecoPerez heads @RedBullRacing one-two. #F1

#AzerbaijanGP FP1: @Max33Verstappen leads @ScuderiaFerrari pairing. #F1

#Formula1 #AzerbaijanGP 2021 Preview. #F1