Leclerc completes an Azerbaijan qualifying hat-trick in chaotic session

Sam Hall
Friday 28 April 2023 16:32 - Updated: 17:30

Charles Leclerc has scored his third consecutive Azerbaijan Grand Prix pole position.

The Ferrari driver saw off Max Verstappen by 0.188secs after the pair had set identical lap times on their first Q3 efforts.

It ends Red Bull's qualifying dominance this year, with Verstappen having started from the front twice already and Sergio Perez once.

Lewis Hamilton will start from fifth while McLaren's significant upgrade package enabled Lando Norris to qualify seventh and Oscar Piastri 10th.

Fernando Alonso was sixth.

Red flags cause severe Q1 delays

Nyck de Vries caused the red flags to fly for the second time of the weekend and the first of qualifying with 10 minutes remaining of Q1 with a crash at turn three.

This came after he had already reported a brake-by-wire problem when leaving the garage at the start of the session.

Less than three minutes after the session had resumed, the red flags were again on display as Pierre Gasly also struck the turn three wall.

Unlike De Vries, who had lost the rear of his car, the Frenchman simply took too much speed into the corner, reporting: "I couldn't stop the car."

This incident came after Alpine had worked wonders to repair Gasly's A523 after it had sustained fire damage in practice.

In total, the two red flag periods caused a delay of 26 minutes.

Seven-and-a-half minutes remained on the clock when the session again resumed with George Russell on the bubble in P15 and Carlos Sainz last, without a time set.

However, both drivers were well clear of the drop by the time the chequered flag fell, with Russell setting a top-five time.

De Vries and Gasly were joined by Kevin Magnussen, Nico Hulkenberg and Zhou Guanyu in dropping out.

Q2 calm after the storm claims Russell

Despite his recovery in Q1, Russell failed to progress further than the second session as he qualified P11, falling just 0.004s behind team-mate Lewis Hamilton.

The session ran without a red flag interruption but was not without incident, as Sainz twice ran off the track.

Esteban Ocon, Alex Albon, Valtteri Bottas and Logan Sargeant all failed to make the top 10.

Azerbaijan Grand Prix qualifying results

1. Charles Leclerc [Ferrari] - 1:40.203

2. Max Verstappen [Red Bull] - +0.188

3. Sergio Perez [Red Bull] - +0.292

4. Carlos Sainz [Ferrari] - +0.813

5. Lewis Hamilton [Mercedes] - +0.974

6. Fernando Alonso [Aston Martin] - +1.050

7. Lando Norris [McLaren] - +1.078

8. Yuki Tsunoda [AlphaTauri] - +1.378

9. Lance Stroll [Aston Martin] - +1.408

10. Oscar Piastri [McLaren] - +1.408

11. George Russell [Mercedes]

12. Esteban Ocon [Alpine]

13. Alex Albon [Williams]

14. Valtteri Bottas [Alfa Romeo]

15. Logan Sargeant [Williams]

16. Zhou Guanyu [Alfa Romeo]

17. Nico Hulkenberg [Haas]

18. Kevin Magnussen [Haas]

19. Pierre Gasly [Alpine]

20. Nyck de Vries [AlphaTauri]