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.

Seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton was seventh for Mercedes ahead of two-time champion Fern­ando Alonso of Aston Martin, Argentine new boy Franco Colapinto of Will­iams and his team-mate Alex Albon.

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.”

Published in Dawn, September 15th, 2024