Leclerc shines again on Saturday and gets pole-position for Azerbaijan GP

The qualifying of the Formula 1 Azerbaijan GP, held on Saturday morning (11), consecrated Charles Leclerc as pole-position of the 2022 edition. The Ferrari driver got the best of what was clear, since the beginning of the weekend, would be a tight fight between the two main teams in the championship. This way, he has the golden chance to get even closer to the top of the championship, currently in the hands of Max Verstappen.

The numbers are incredible. Leclerc becomes the first driver with two poles in Baku and reaches six in eight races in the 2022 season - his fourth in a row. The Monegasque really is the 'King of Saturdays'.

He came up with an absolutely flying lap, which ended the real competition for the lead. With 1min41s359, Leclerc put 0s282 behind the best lap of Sergio Pérez, who starts second. Max Verstappen is third, while Carlos Sainz only leaves in fourth place. George Russell, Pierre Gasly, Lewis Hamilton, Yuki Tsunoda, Sebastian Vettel, and Fernando Alonso make up the top-10.

With the start delayed by 15 minutes, something that was announced during TL3, the concern was that too many interruptions could create problems for the organization, since dusk would occur shortly after 8 pm local time in Baku - qualifying started at 6:15 pm local time. Lance Stroll crashed twice at the end of Q1, and hit the wall in turn two on the second occasion. A red flag came with 2min30s to go in the early stages of practice. Valtteri Bottas managed to save himself from elimination after that and moved on, throwing Kevin Magnussen into the firing line with Stroll himself, Alexander Albon, Nicholas Latifi, and Mick Schumacher.

Then, in Q2, the four-time champion Vettel came face to face with the wall and got a scare, but managed to keep the engine running and got out of there with no major damage to himself or the activity. He even made it to Q3 with the time he had already recorded. Bad luck for McLaren, who were eliminated with Lando Norris and Daniel Ricciardo in 11th and 12th respectively. Esteban Ocon, Guanyu Zhou, and Bottas also crashed.

Q3 came with Sainz opening first after the first round of fast laps. Something important, because the Spaniard had finished ahead of Leclerc the Q2. There was a small pattern, but that was kicked up a notch. Sainz was the only one among the four drivers of the top two teams who did not improve on the last attempt. It remains again to see his teammate suck the spotlight and the other team's rivals move on. The chance to react is really on Sunday.

GRANDE PRÊMIO follows all Formula 1 activities LIVE and IN REAL TIME. On Sunday, the schedule indicates a start at 8:00 am [Brasilia time, GMT-3].

Check out how the standings went:

As was already set even before the third free practice session was held on the streets of Baku a few hours earlier, qualifying was delayed by 15 minutes: from 11am [GMT-3] to 11:15am. The reason was not something that had happened shortly before, but in the rule book. Because of the local time zone, all track activities are held between early afternoon and early evening. Thus, an accident at the end of the Formula 2 sprint race damaged one of the barriers and caused F1's TL3 to be delayed by 15 minutes.

But so what? It is in the FIA sports regulations that the distance between the end of free practice and the start of qualifying in Formula 1 must be at least two hours. As the 60-minute TL3 was pushed from 8am to 8:15am and qualifying would start at 11am, there would not be time. Thus, the grid definition had to wait as well.

Q1 - Verstappen leaves ahead of Pérez and Leclerc, while Stroll crashes

A huge line was formed, with almost every car, waiting for the green light in the pit-lane. When the green light came on, it was Lando Norris who came out in front to start the timing session for good. Immediately, everyone was on the track. Norris, as the first one out, was also the first to set a time.

Max Verstappen already set a very significant lap, a 1min42s938, which, in practice, put the Dutchman in Q2. Meanwhile, Lewis Hamilton warned Mercedes that the pedals were "too soft". The other Mercedes driver, George Russell, complained that Verstappen was driving "erratically" on the track after almost hitting the back of the Red Bull.

The two Red Bull drivers appeared in the top two positions, just ahead of the Ferrari duo. Sebastian Vettel managed to stick in fifth and with Guanyu Zhou in sixth. Russell and Hamilton managed to stay in the top-10, while Valtteri Bottas, struggling all weekend, was in the elimination zone.

Leclerc, by the way, was briefly in the lead, but Verstappen did 1min42s722 and Perez followed with a lap only 0s011 behind his teammate.

Then came the protagonist of Q1: Lance Stroll. The Aston Martin driver was fighting with his car while Vettel was doing well. Initially, with about five minutes to go, he scratched the wall in turn seven with the nose of his car after escaping. Nothing too serious initially, but he would crash again on the next lap! In turn two, he escaped and crashed harder, damaging the front right suspension. Car stopped on the track and, with 2min30s to go, a red flag.

At that point, Stroll had a lap better only than Mick Schumacher. Alex Albon was first in the elimination zone and was followed by Bottas and Nicholas Latifi. The red flag created a problem: everyone would have to get on track immediately to be able to open a lap.

Mercedes decided to go out with used tires, just to make sure they had the time, while those in the top positions didn't even come in to open the lap. At Haas, Mick Schumacher started late and was told on the radio "push to the limit". He managed to open a lap, but not leave last.

Bottas was able to get away, jumping up to 15th place in the scare. The McLaren were 13th and 14th, also without comfort and with Lando Norris ahead of Daniel Ricciardo. The eliminated then ended up being Kevin Magnussen, Albon, Latifi, Stroll, and Schumacher.

In the end, Albon ended up complaining about Alonso, who caused a yellow flag in the last seconds of the intermediate sector and retired to the Alpine pits very slowly. Remember that the race management has defined that all laps, even without being officially timed, need to be over 2min09s so that the drivers do not disturb the others. Unless, of course, there is a problem.

Q2 - Pérez answers to his teammate and leads the second part

Red Bull saved themselves at the end of Q1 to get out in front of everyone in Q2. Again, Verstappen was better than Pérez, now by only 0s031. This time, however, Ferrari responded better. Carlos Sainz clocked 1min42s088 and jumped to the front, with Leclerc coming second.

AlphaTauri was also in Baku. Pierre Gasly came in fifth and showed he was comfortable in the car. Hamilton, less comfortable in his car, appeared outside the qualifying zone after five minutes.

A second Aston Martin appeared on the wall. Now Vettel, of course, as Stroll had been eliminated. The four-time champion lost control at turn 15 and drove into the wall. Without a hard hit, however, he kept his engine running and came out of there into the pits. He was in seventh place and still had a chance to advance to Q3.

Pérez did the same for everyone and, with his second attempt, did 1min41s955 and appeared in the lead momentarily. Immediately, the two Red Bulls collected: it was the end of Q2 for both, with more than enough time left after Verstappen scratched the wall with his left rear tire.

Hamilton was suffering. In the preparation for the last lap, he warned on the radio that he had difficulties to change the car's direction and was even warned that he was under investigation for driving too slow on the track after appearing almost stopped in front of Norris - at this point, however, he appeared sixth.

Before the last attempt, the McLaren and Alfa Romeo duos were joined by Esteban Ocon among the eliminated drivers. The first to be almost certain of elimination was Norris, because in his attempt to open the last lap fast, he went straight through and went off the track. But it didn't end that way, because Lando was still able to open the lap, but it was no use: he was out anyway.

Norris, Ricciardo, Ocon, Zhou, and Bottas, in this exact order, were the five eliminated. None could save themselves with a final attempt. Thus, Pérez, Leclerc, Sainz, Verstappen, Gasly, Hamilton, Vettel, Russell, Alonso, and Yuki Tsunoda were the ten qualified for the pole position.

Q3 - Leclerc shines and celebrates another pole in 2022

The time of decision arrived with Alonso going out in front of the others to record time, but his lap was not great and he fell just behind his real rivals: Russell, Vettel, and Gasly.

In another different fight, Sainz went off and again overtook Leclerc to take the lead. The Monegasque driver took a slight slip and didn't do much of a lap, but it was enough to beat Pérez and Verstappen who, in that order, were third and fourth.

After the first round of laps, the top four were as follows. Gasly, Russell, Vettel, Alonso, Hamilton and Tsunoda rounded out the top-10.

The second attempt already showed a different scenario when Leclerc came first among the four and flew away with 1min41s359. Verstappen jumped into second momentarily, but Pérez passed him - even though he was 0s282 behind the Monegasque. Sainz stayed behind without improving his lap.

There was no way to avoid Leclerc's sixth pole in eight rounds this season. What's more, Charles becomes the only driver with two poles in the Azerbaijan GP. Pérez closes the front row, while Verstappen opens the second row alongside Sainz. Russell and Gasly, Hamilton and Tsunoda, Vettel and Alonso form the third, fourth and fifth rows.

F1 2022, Azerbaijan, Saturday, Starting Grid: