Ferrari's Charles Leclerc takes pole position for Azerbaijan GP

Ferrari's Charles Leclerc took pole position in Baku for the third year in a row in qualifying for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix on Friday.

The pole, in a session twice red-flagged due to crashes, was Ferrari's first of the F1 season and ended Red Bull's run of three in succession.

Red Bull's championship leader Max Verstappen qualified second-fastest with his team mate Sergio Perez third.

Drivers will have another qualifying on Saturday for a standalone 100 km sprint race that no longer determines Sunday's grid after a new format was agreed unanimously by teams this week.

Leclerc and Verstappen had the exact same time midway through the final session of qualifying before both improved on their final runs, with Leclerc going faster by 0.188 seconds in his Ferrari to take pole.

Charles Leclerc delivers yet again at qualifying in Baku! #AzerbaijanGP @ScuderiaFerrari pic.twitter.com/RhvweZOBRY

“For sure I'm surprised. We came into the weekend thinking that it would be a great weekend if we are in front of Aston (Martin) and Mercedes in qualifying, and in the end we are on pole, so it's a really good surprise,” Leclerc said.

“We must not forget that our race car is maybe still behind the Red Bull, so it's going to be difficult to keep the lead, but that's the target.”

Verstappen's Red Bull teammate Perez was third, ahead of Carlos Sainz Jr. in fourth for Ferrari. Seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton was fifth for Mercedes and Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso sixth. Hamilton's teammate George Russell was 11th after missing the cut in the second qualifying session by 0.004 seconds.

The new weekend schedule meant there was only a single one-hour practice session, which was disrupted by Gasly's fire and a series of yellow-flag