Leclerc claims Baku pole in Azerbaijan Grand Prix qualifying
Charles Leclerc took pole position with a stunning lap in qualifying for the 2022 Azerbaijan Grand Prix, as Sergio Perez put himself on the front row in P2.
Leclerc set the ultimate benchmark of 1m 41.359s, going over two-tenths faster than Sergio Perez in a nailbiting Q3 session. Although he had provisional pole before that, Carlos Sainz couldn’t hook up his final effort and ended up fourth – behind Max Verstappen.
George Russell rounded out the top five for Mercedes, Pierre Gasly sharing the third row with him with a solid showing for AlphaTauri. Unhappy throughout qualifying, Lewis Hamilton took seventh and will share row four with AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda.
Sebastian Vettel took P9 for Aston Martin with Alpine’s Fernando Alonso rounding out the top 10.
Q2 saw both McLarens and both Alfa Romeos eliminated: Lando Norris 11th and Daniel Ricciardo 12th; Zhou Guanyu 14th and Valtteri Bottas 15th. Between those orange and red pairs was the blue Alpine driver, Esteban Ocon.
Haas’s Kevin Magnussen was left in Q1, taking a provisional P16 on the grid, Williams drivers Alex Albon 17th and Nicholas Latifi 18th.
Aston Martin driver Lance Stroll crashed out of Q1 and will start a provisional P19 on the grid ahead of Haas’s Mick Schumacher, 20th.
