Charles Leclerc on taking pole position in Baku: “I did not expect it”
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Charles Leclerc takes another pole position - on a weekend that he did not expect to.
Another qualifying session is over, and once again, Charles Leclerc is on top. Last year too, Charles Leclerc had taken pole position in the event – part of which can be attributed to his teammate Carlos Sainz’s and Yuki Tsunoda’s separate Turn 3 lock-ups. Last year, he did not have a competitive enough car to be able to keep the others behind him (especially with Azerbaijan’s straights).
This year he is in arguably the better car at the moment, but perhaps not on the straights. In Azerbaijan, the Ferrari has a distinct speed deficit from the much faster Red Bull cars. The balance of the weekend was fairly tight, but the Red Bull seemed to have a bit of an advantage.
In the first qualifying session, it had been Max Verstappen on top. In the second one, it was Sergio Perez on top. In the third, however, Red Bull ran into some issues with Sergio Perez’s car, which must have hampered their performance. Max Verstappen wanted to get a tow but could not do it due to Perez’s issue.
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Another pole position for Charles Leclerc
This is Charles Leclerc’s 6th pole position of the season and his fourth in a row. However, none of the last three have been converted into victories. In Miami, he was unable to keep up with Max Verstappen. In Spain, he was forced to retire from the race due to a power unit issue on lap 28, having led the whole race, and in Monaco, Ferrari were outwitted by Red Bull on the strategy.
Even if pole positions are an indicator that your car does have pace, they are not assurances of victory, especially on tracks like Baku. In fact, only Valtteri Bottas is the only driver who won the race after starting in pole position. Red Bull have looked stronger (than qualifying) in most of the races this season. But they even seemed to have the edge in qualifying this weekend.
Charles Leclerc did not expect to start on pole position, but everything worked out for him on his final run. Speaking after the qualifying session, Leclerc said:
“It feels good. This one I did not expect – I thought Red Bull were stronger, especially in Q1 and Q2, but in the last lap, everything came together. I’m really excited for tomorrow.”
Leclerc’s Ferrari teammate may also have been up for his pole position ever but it did not work out for him on the final run. This means the Ferrari duo are split by the Red Bulls. Baku is almost always a chaotic race and the interesting dynamic between the two top teams – the generally faster cars over one lap over what would seem to be the better race car.
Also Read: Charles Leclerc optimistic about regaining Championship lead: “We will take it back”
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Aniket Tripathi
(1002 Articles Published)