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Formula 1 Azerbaijan GP

F1 qualifying results: Charles Leclerc takes Azerbaijan GP pole

Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc took pole position for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, round four of the 2023 Formula 1 World Championship, in the first Friday qualifying session of the new sprint weekend format.

Leclerc will start ahead of the Red Bulls of Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez in Sunday’s race after the one-hour qualifying session on Friday, which is split into three segments with five cars each being knocked out in Q1 and Q2 before the top-10 shootout of Q3.

This is the first weekend run to the latest sprint race weekend format, with another qualifying session tomorrow for the sprint event on Saturday in Baku.

Azerbaijan Grand Prix qualifying results: Leclerc on pole from Verstappen

Pos Driver  Car/Engine   Time   Gap 
16 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1'40.203  
1 Max Verstappen Red Bull/Honda RBPT 1'40.391 0.188
11 Sergio Pérez Red Bull/Honda RBPT 1'40.495 0.292
55 Carlos Sainz Jr. Ferrari 1'41.016 0.813
44 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1'41.177 0.974
14 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin/Mercedes 1'41.253 1.050
4 Lando Norris McLaren/Mercedes 1'41.281 1.078
22 Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri/Honda RBPT 1'41.581 1.378
18 Lance Stroll Aston Martin/Mercedes 1'41.611 1.408
10  81 Oscar Piastri McLaren/Mercedes 1'41.611 1.408
11  63 George Russell Mercedes 1'41.654 1.451
12  31 Esteban Ocon Alpine/Renault 1'41.798 1.595
13  23 Alexander Albon Williams/Mercedes 1'41.818 1.615
14  77 Valtteri Bottas Alfa Romeo/Ferrari 1'42.259 2.056
15  2 Logan Sargeant Williams/Mercedes 1'42.395 2.192
16  24 Zhou Guanyu Alfa Romeo/Ferrari 1'42.642 2.439
17  27 Nico Hülkenberg Haas/Ferrari 1'42.755 2.552
18  20 Kevin Magnussen Haas/Ferrari 1'43.417 3.214
19  10 Pierre Gasly Alpine/Renault 1'44.853 4.650
20  21 Nyck de Vries AlphaTauri/Honda RBPT 1'55.282 15.079

What happened in Azerbaijan Grand Prix Q1?

Verstappen set the early pace at 1m41.887s, two tenths clear of Leclerc, but the session was red flagged with 10 minutes to go when Nyck de Vries crashed his AlphaTauri at Turn 3.

Barely three minutes into the restart, Pierre Gasly shunted his Alpine at the same corner, putting him out of the session too. Meantime, Carlos Sainz spun his Ferrari at Turn 1 and continued.

At the second resumption, Perez briefly took the top spot with 1m41.756s, before Verstappen wrested it back with 1m41.398s. Right at the end of the session, Leclerc grabbed P1 with 1m41.269s, 0.129s faster than Verstappen.

Falling at the first hurdle were Zhou Guanyu (Alfa Romeo, who suffered an early spin at Turn 1), the Haases of Nico Hulkenberg and Kevin Magnussen (who had an issue with his car and was told to pit) and shunters Gasly and de Vries.

Azerbaijan Grand Prix Q1 results: Leclerc fastest from Verstappen

Cla Driver Time Gap Interval km/h
1 Monaco Charles Leclerc 1'41.269     213.399
2 Netherlands Max Verstappen 1'41.398 0.129 0.129 213.128
3 Spain Fernando Alonso 1'41.720 0.451 0.322 212.453
4 Mexico Sergio Perez 1'41.756 0.487 0.036 212.378
5 United Kingdom George Russell 1'42.073 0.804 0.317 211.719
6 United Kingdom Lewis Hamilton 1'42.113 0.844 0.040 211.636
7 United Kingdom Lando Norris 1'42.154 0.885 0.041 211.551
8 Thailand Alex Albon 1'42.171 0.902 0.017 211.515
9 Spain Carlos Sainz 1'42.197 0.928 0.026 211.462
10 Japan Yuki Tsunoda 1'42.234 0.965 0.037 211.385
11 United States Logan Sargeant 1'42.242 0.973 0.008 211.369
12 Australia Oscar Piastri 1'42.455 1.186 0.213 210.929
13 Canada Lance Stroll 1'42.524 1.255 0.069 210.787
14 Finland Valtteri Bottas 1'42.582 1.313 0.058 210.668
15 France Esteban Ocon 1'42.622 1.353 0.040 210.586
16 China Zhou Guanyu 1'42.642 1.373 0.020 210.545
17 Germany Nico Hulkenberg 1'42.755 1.486 0.113 210.313
18 Denmark Kevin Magnussen 1'43.417 2.148 0.662 208.967
19 France Pierre Gasly 1'44.853 3.584 1.436 206.105
20 Netherlands Nyck de Vries 1'55.282 14.013 10.429 187.460

What happened in Azerbaijan Grand Prix Q2?

Perez set the initial pace at 1m41.131s, 0.062s quicker than Verstappen with Leclerc 0.085s adrift in third. Leclerc then took a second push lap and beat them all by a tenth on 1m41.037s.

The Red Bulls pitted and ran again: Verstappen retook P1 with 1m40.822s, 0.215s faster than Leclerc.

Knocked out at this point were George Russell (Mercedes), Esteban Ocon (Alpine), Alex Albon (Williams), Valtteri Bottas (Alfa Romeo) and Logan Sargeant (Williams).

Azerbaijan Grand Prix Q2 results: Verstappen fastest from Leclerc

Cla Driver Time Gap Interval km/h
1 Netherlands Max Verstappen 1'40.822     214.346
2 Monaco Charles Leclerc 1'41.037 0.215 0.215 213.889
3 Mexico Sergio Perez 1'41.131 0.309 0.094 213.691
4 Spain Carlos Sainz 1'41.369 0.547 0.238 213.189
5 Spain Fernando Alonso 1'41.370 0.548 0.001 213.187
6 United Kingdom Lando Norris 1'41.485 0.663 0.115 212.945
7 Japan Yuki Tsunoda 1'41.569 0.747 0.084 212.769
8 Canada Lance Stroll 1'41.576 0.754 0.007 212.754
9 Australia Oscar Piastri 1'41.636 0.814 0.060 212.629
10 United Kingdom Lewis Hamilton 1'41.650 0.828 0.014 212.600
11 United Kingdom George Russell 1'41.654 0.832 0.004 212.591
12 France Esteban Ocon 1'41.798 0.976 0.144 212.291
13 Thailand Alex Albon 1'41.818 0.996 0.020 212.249
14 Finland Valtteri Bottas 1'42.259 1.437 0.441 211.333
15 United States Logan Sargeant 1'42.395 1.573 0.136 211.053

What happened in Azerbaijan Grand Prix Q3?

On the first runs, Verstappen set the benchmark at 1m40.445s, which Leclerc matched to the thousandth of a second, but placed second as he set the time just a few seconds later.

On the final runs, Leclerc grabbed pole with a lap of 1m40.203s, 0.188s ahead of Verstappen, who could only manage 1m40.391s.

Almost three tenths off the pace, Perez will start third, ahead of Sainz, Hamilton, Alonso, Lando Norris (McLaren), Yuki Tsunoda (AlphaTauri), Lance Stroll (Aston Martin) and Oscar Piastri (McLaren), the latter setting exactly the same laptime as Stroll.

Azerbaijan Grand Prix Q3 results: Leclerc takes pole

Cla Driver Time Gap Interval km/h
1 Monaco Charles Leclerc 1'40.203     215.670
2 Netherlands Max Verstappen 1'40.391 0.188 0.188 215.266
3 Mexico Sergio Perez 1'40.495 0.292 0.104 215.043
4 Spain Carlos Sainz 1'41.016 0.813 0.521 213.934
5 United Kingdom Lewis Hamilton 1'41.177 0.974 0.161 213.593
6 Spain Fernando Alonso 1'41.253 1.050 0.076 213.433
7 United Kingdom Lando Norris 1'41.281 1.078 0.028 213.374
8 Japan Yuki Tsunoda 1'41.581 1.378 0.300 212.744
9 Canada Lance Stroll 1'41.611 1.408 0.030 212.681
10 Australia Oscar Piastri 1'41.611 1.408 0.000 212.681

What happened in Azerbaijan Grand Prix FP1?

With the new format being run for the first time, teams wanted as much running as possible in this sole one-hour practice session.

But this was hampered by Gasly’s Alpine springing a hydraulic leak that caught fire, which caused a red flag. Magnussen also went off at Turn 1, following a loss of fuel pressure.

Verstappen topped the session by 0.037s from Leclerc. Perez was a tenth off the pace in third, ahead of Sainz, Norris and de Vries.

Mercedes suffered brake issues and were only 11th and 17th with Hamilton and Russell respectively.

Azerbaijan Grand Prix FP1 results: Verstappen fastest

Cla Driver Laps Time Gap Interval km/h
1 Netherlands Max Verstappen 22 1'42.315     211.218
2 Monaco Charles Leclerc 21 1'42.352 0.037 0.037 211.141
3 Mexico Sergio Perez 22 1'42.454 0.139 0.102 210.931
4 Spain Carlos Sainz 23 1'42.899 0.584 0.445 210.019
5 United Kingdom Lando Norris 22 1'43.125 0.810 0.226 209.559
6 Netherlands Nyck de Vries 24 1'43.414 1.099 0.289 208.973
7 Canada Lance Stroll 23 1'43.455 1.140 0.041 208.890
8 Spain Fernando Alonso 20 1'43.560 1.245 0.105 208.679
9 Thailand Alex Albon 25 1'43.628 1.313 0.068 208.542
10 China Zhou Guanyu 23 1'43.748 1.433 0.120 208.300
11 United Kingdom Lewis Hamilton 21 1'43.798 1.483 0.050 208.200
12 Australia Oscar Piastri 23 1'43.980 1.665 0.182 207.836
13 Finland Valtteri Bottas 23 1'44.010 1.695 0.030 207.776
14 Japan Yuki Tsunoda 18 1'44.137 1.822 0.127 207.522
15 Germany Nico Hulkenberg 21 1'44.323 2.008 0.186 207.152
16 United States Logan Sargeant 16 1'44.900 2.585 0.577 206.013
17 United Kingdom George Russell 20 1'45.082 2.767 0.182 205.656
18 France Esteban Ocon 8 1'45.955 3.640 0.873 203.962
19 France Pierre Gasly 7 1'46.321 4.006 0.366 203.259
20 Denmark Kevin Magnussen 8 1'47.498 5.183 1.177 201.034
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