F1 Azerbaijan GP: “We are so back (this is a lie)” – Fans react as Charles Leclerc PUMMELS Red Bull to take pole in Baku
For the first time this season, a Red Bull driver will not be on pole, as Charles Leclerc pipped everyone with a stunning lap at the 2023 F1 Azerbaijan GP.
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Charles Leclerc will start the F1 Azerbaijan GP 2023 on pole position!
Almost all drivers got out immediately into Q1. Nico Hulkenberg was the first man to set a time, with a 1:44.305. However, the times quickly tumbled down, and soon, Max Verstappen had set an early benchmark of 1:41.887. Charles Leclerc, too, seemed to have improved pace. But soon, the session was disrupted: Going into turn 3, Nyck de Vries locked up and went into the wall, which spelled the end of his session. This brought out a red flag at the 10:17 mark.
The session got going again, but at the 7:32 mark, another red flag came out! This time, it was Pierre Gasly, who had issues in FP1 as well. He kissed the wall and the barrier needed repairs. Coincidentally, his incident happened at the same spot that de Vries’ crash happened. This spelled the end of his session. Just moments before, Carlos Sainz had spun going into turn 1, bringing out a red flag. At the end of the session, Zhou Guanyu, both Haas drivers and the retirees exited qualifying.
Q2 was a relatively calm session, though Sainz did have to bail out on turn 3 as he continued to struggle. But there was a big surprise waiting at the end, as the Mercedes duo disappointed heavily. This may be because they are setting up for the race more, but Lewis Hamilton knocked George Russell out of Q2, by just 0.004 seconds. Alex Albon, Logan Sargeant, Valtteri Bottas, and Esteban Ocon were also eliminated.
Q3, though, got started off in a very exciting fashion. Verstappen and Leclerc, on their first flying laps, set the exact same time! Both set a time of 1:40.445. But very surprisingly, Leclerc, the man who only has 6 points from the first three races, beat Verstappen by 0.188 seconds to pole position. He set a time of 1:40.203, which is also the new pole lap record.
Charles Leclerc took his third pole position in a row in Baku
To say that this was a surprise is an understatement. Ferrari had struggled for the entirety of 2023, and Charles Leclerc had taken a bit of a beating. He retired in two out of the first three races, once with a mechanical issue and once from a collision. In the only race he finished as of yet, he was only P7 at the end. But now, it seems the SF-23 is coming more into its own. This does not necessarily mean that Leclerc is the favorite for the race tomorrow, though.
Last year too, he had taken pole on many occasions, only to find that the Ferrari F1-75 could not match the Red Bull RB-18 on race day. This may be the case again, and one will almost expect that this will be the case again. Given what they’ve shown this year, it’s hard to imagine that Leclerc can beat Red Bull during the race considering how dominant the British team has been this season.
But of course, he’ll be aiming to do exactly that. Max Verstappen will start behind alongside him on Sunday, and Sergio Perez will be behind him. His teammate, Carlos Sainz will share the second row with the Mexican driver. The Spaniard had been far off his teammate in qualifying and it’s obvious that improvements are needed. But despite Sainz’s disappointing pace: Every Ferrari fan will be celebrating right now, even if this pole position does not turn into a win.
But many also recognize this fact.
It’ll be interesting to see what transpires during the Grand Prix on Sunday. Of course, tomorrow, there’s another qualifying session that Leclerc will look to conquer. Then there’s the sprint race to look forward to. If he can continue in the same vein, he at least has a good chance to win the sprint race – as Red Bull’s strong race pace would be less of a factor immediately.
In case you missed it:
- F1 Azerbaijan GP – WATCH: “Massive joke of a quali, Cancel this format already” Fans blame new F1 Sprint Format for Pierre Gasly’s Q1 crash
- F1 Azerbaijan GP: Formula 1 teams stop FIA from making CRUCIAL tire ‘loophole’ rule change
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Aniket Tripathi
(1002 Articles Published)