Azerbaijan GP: Charles got back to back POLE, Lewis made his comeback

Charles Leclerc delivered some impressive pace and benefitted from a tow from Lewis Hamilton to take a sensational pole position for Sunday’s Azerbaijan Grand Prix in what was a thrilling qualifying session that saw five crashes and four red flags.

It comes just a couple of weeks after he took pole in his home race in Monaco, only to be forced to retire before the race had even started with a mechanical issue caused by his crash in qualifying – with reigning world champion Lewis Hamilton bouncing back from a poor Friday to join the Ferrari on the front row in Baku.

Hamilton made the decision to switch to a low downforce rear wing ahead of qualifying, having struggled to find any performance on a single lap in the preceding practice sessions, and it paid off as he starts second for the third consecutive race in Baku.

Max Verstappen was furious with third, despite it being his best start in Baku, the Dutchman frustrated by the number of stoppages for crashes as it meant he was unable to maximise the pace of his Red Bull, which for much of the weekend has looked like the class of the field.

Pierre Gasly made it four constructors in the top four, the AlphaTauri driver choosing to do just one run in the final segment of qualifying and utilizing a largely clear track – and a small tow from teammate Yuki Tsunoda to equal his best-ever grid position.

There was drama in the closing stages as Tsunoda crashed at Turn 3, forcing everyone to abort their second runs and bringing an early end to the session, with the Japanese driver ending up a career-best eighth on the grid.

Carlos Sainz was following Tsunoda on the road and locked up heavily, losing the car and sliding down the escape road, damaging his front wing as well as the right rear of his Ferrari, which could mean there’s a chance his gearbox is damaged.

McLaren’s Lando Norris went sixth, having seen his teammate Daniel Ricciardo crashed out in Q2, with Sergio Perez – who had points during qualifying looked like he had the pace to take pole – a disappointing seventh.

Fernando Alonso out-qualified his Alpine teammate Esteban Ocon for the first time this season with eighth, with Bottas – who opted to keep the higher downforce configuration of the rear wing – bottom of the top 10 pile.

The session saw four red flags in total – following crashes for Lance Stroll, Antonio Giovinazzi, Ricciardo, and Tsunoda – which ties the 2016 Hungarian Grand Prix for the reddest flags in a session.

Standings:

2021 F1 AZERBAIJAN GRAND PRIX - QUALIFYING RESULTS
POS.	DRIVER	NAT.	TEAM	Q1	Q2	Q3
1	Charles Leclerc	MON	Scuderia Ferrari Mission Winnow	1m42.241s	1m41.659s	1m41.218s
2	Lewis Hamilton	GBR	Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team	1m41.545s	1m41.634s	1m41.450s
3	Max Verstappen	NED	Red Bull Racing	1m41.760s	1m41.625s	1m41.563s
4	Pierre Gasly	FRA	Scuderia AlphaTauri Honda	1m42.288s	1m41.932s	1m41.565s
5	Carlos Sainz	ESP	Scuderia Ferrari Mission Winnow	1m42.121s	1m41.740s	1m41.576s
6	Lando Norris	GBR	McLaren F1 Team	1m42.167s	1m41.813s	1m41.747s
7	Sergio Perez	MEX	Red Bull Racing	1m41.968s	1m41.630s	1m41.917s
8	Yuki Tsunoda	JPN	Scuderia AlphaTauri Honda	1m42.521s	1m41.654s	1m42.211s
9	Fernando Alonso	ESP	Alpine F1 Team	1m42.934s	1m42.195s	1m42.327s
10	Valtteri Bottas	FIN	Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team	1m42.701s	1m42.106s	1m42.659s
11	Sebastian Vettel	GER	Aston Martin Cognizant Formula One Team	1m42.460s	1m42.224s
12	Esteban Ocon	FRA	Alpine F1 Team	1m42.426s	1m42.273s
13	Daniel Ricciardo	AUS	McLaren F1 Team	1m42.304s	1m42.558s
14	Kimi Raikkonen	FIN	Alfa Romeo Racing Orlen	1m42.923s	1m42.587s
15	George Russell	GBR	Williams Racing	1m42.728s	1m42.758s
16	Nicholas Latifi	CAN	Williams Racing	1m43.128s
17	Mick Schumacher	GER	Uralkali Haas F1 Team	1m44.158s
18	Nikita Mazepin	RUS	Uralkali Haas F1 Team	1m44.238s
19	Lance Stroll	CAN	Aston Martin Cognizant Formula One Team	No time set
20	Antonio Giovinazzi	ITA	Alfa Romeo Racing Orlen	No time set

-by Amaan Attar

Source- Crash.net