Charles Leclerc Hopes To Finally Capitalise On Pole In Baku

Charles Leclerc on Saturday set himself up to bid for another emotional Ferrari victory when he claimed his fourth consecutive pole position on the streets of Baku for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. The Monegasque driver, who triumphed at Monaco in May and won the Italian Grand Prix at Monza two weeks ago, continued his supreme current form to beat McLaren's Oscar Piastri by three-tenths of a second. Despite three previous poles in 2021, 2022 and 2023, Leclerc has yet to taste victory in Azerbaijan.

In a dramatic qualifying session with title-chasing Lando Norris, in the second McLaren, eliminated in Q1 in 17th place, Leclerc clocked a best lap of one minute and 43.365 on his final run to take his career 26th pole.

Series leader and three-time champion Max Verstappen of Red Bull, who leads Norris by 62 points, qualified only sixth.

"It's amazing to be on pole," said Leclerc.

'The pace was there'

"The car felt really good and everything was great. It's one of my favourite tracks. I really like it. It hasn't been an easy weekend because of my crash in FP1.

"It didn't make me lose confidence, as I knew that the pace was there, but you've got to be back up to speed.

"In Q3 and qualifying, it was all about trying to stay away from the walls and on the last lap I went for it a bit more - and the lap time came very nicely."

His Ferrari team-mate Carlos Sainz was third in the second Ferrari ahead of Sergio Perez of Red Bull and Mercedes' George Russell.

"Its the best we could hope for," said Leclerc.

"The left side of the grid is a little bit less grippy, so first and third is where you want to start here and hopefully we can play a team game tomorrow to win.

"It's going to be a long race. In the past, we have been very strong in