Leclerc on pole in Baku for fourth year in a row

BAKU: Ferrari's Charles Leclerc took pole position at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix for the fourth year in a row on Saturday as McLaren's title contender Lando Norris suffered a qualifying nightmare and was set to start 17th.

McLaren's Oscar Piastri joined Leclerc on the front row with Ferrari's Carlos Sainz and Red Bull's Sergio Perez together on the second row.

Red Bull's world championship leader Max Verstappen, 62 points ahead of Norris with eight rounds remaining, qualified only sixth fastest with Mercedes' George Russell ahead of him in fifth.

The pole was the 26th of Leclerc's career, and third of the season, but he has yet to convert the top slot into victory in Baku where champions Red Bull have won for the past three years.

"It's one of my favourite tracks of the season, I really like it," said the Monegasque, who won the previous race in Italy but crashed in Friday practice in Baku.

"In that last lap I went for it a bit more and the lap time came very nice. The car felt really good, everything felt great and it's amazing to be on pole.

"Hopefully we can play a team game tomorrow to win... in the past we were very strong in qualifying and struggling a bit in the race. This year we have a stronger race car, so I hope that we can finally make it tomorrow."

Leclerc's time of one minute and 41.365 seconds was 0.321 quicker than Piastri's best effort.

The Australian had been third after the first flying laps, with Ferrari one-two, but found some extra speed with his final effort.

"I got a little bit close to the walls on the last lap; just tried to get the most out of it," said Piastri, who agreed last week to obey team orders to help Norris but is unlikely to be in a position to be asked now.

"This track rewards commitment and