Charles Leclerc secures Azerbaijan GP pole hat-trick as Ferrari break Purple Bull qualifying streak

Ferrari and Charles Leclerc scored their first pole place of the 2023 F1 marketing campaign in Baku for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.

Up to now, Purple Bull had been the one group to have a pole place however that streak has now been damaged after Leclerc was 0.188 seconds faster than Max Verstappen in second.

Verstappen’s team-mate Sergio Perez was third, with the remaining Ferrari of Carlos Sainz in fourth.

Former world champion Lewis Hamilton was fifth with Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso alongside him in sixth.

Hamilton stated: “Timing and stepping into the rhythm is just not straightforward on this observe. In Q2, I struggled. Q3 run one was a extremely candy lap. Simply matched it on the second run, wanted somewhat extra time to get forward of the Ferrari.”

It was one other disappointing session general for Mercedes, with George Russell in eleventh after failing to get out of Q2.

The pole place marks a hat-trick for Leclerc, and is the third consecutive time the Monegasque has proved quickest in Baku.

Leclerc stated after the session: “For certain I am stunned. We got here into the weekend considering it might be a fantastic weekend if we’re in entrance of Mercedes and Aston in qualifying and ultimately we’re on pole. I used to be very pleased with the lap.

“We should not neglect our race automotive continues to be behind the Purple Bulls so it is going to be tough to maintain the lead however that’s the goal.”

Requested whether or not this was his finest pole in Baku, he stated: “I really feel like every time you have got the joy of pole you need to say: ‘Sure.’ I really feel like 2021 it was much more of a shock however it was positively a extremely good lap.”

Verstappen clipped the wall on his ultimate lap on the second flip and mirrored later: “It’s at all times robust to place a lap collectively and on the second run we tried one thing totally different on the out lap which I feel did not assist.

“However we all know we’ve got an excellent race automotive so all in all it isn’t dangerous.”

Saturday will see a qualifying session for the dash race, which is able to happen later that day. New rules set earlier this week have instituted two separate qualifying occasions for the 2 races.