Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc won qualifying for the Formula 1 Azerbaijan Grand Prix and will take pole position for the first time this year. He thus ended Red Bull’s reign in the fight for pole position.
Both Red Bull pilots lined up behind the Monaco. Defending champion Max Verstappen lost 188 thousandths of a second to Leclerc. Sergio Pérez 292 thousandths. Ferrari’s second driver, Carlos Sainz Jr., finished fourth.
Due to the new sprint format, the position on the Grand Prix starting grid was already decided on Friday. Sprint will not determine the order at the start of the Grand Prix itself from that race.
The first part of the fight for pole position was full of crashes. Rookie Nyck de Vries damaged the barriers with his AlphaTauri and qualifying was interrupted for long minutes.
The second part brought disaster for Mercedes. Lewis Hamilton just made it into the top ten and George Russell would even be the first to be eliminated. Hamilton improved his mood by finishing fifth overall in the final stage of qualifying.
In Baku, there is a sprint on the program on Saturday from 15:00 our time, which will have its own qualification. On Sunday, the Grand Prix of Azerbaijan starts at 1:00 p.m.
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