Baku – And four for Leclerc, on pole in front of Perez

If there's something that can't be taken away Ferrari and Charles Leclerc, it is indeed their domination of Saturday. So of course, this did not often turn into a victory the next day (2/5), but the Monegasque's domination in qualifying is enormous in 2022. By achieving pole position this Saturday in Baku, he in fact signed his sixth leading position in only eight Grands Prix, and his fifteenth in Formula 1, a year after already achieving the fastest lap on Saturday here in Azerbaijan. He will rush in front of the two Red Bull by Checo Perez and Max Verstappen and will try to achieve victory, which has eluded him since April 10 in Australia.

The regrets will mainly go to Carlos Sainz, who like in Bahrain and like in Jeddah, had provisional pole at the end of the first run of Q3. But several errors from the Spaniard did not allow him to improve, which allowed the three strong men from the start of the season to move ahead. As in Monaco and as in Jeddah, Sergio Perez again finished ahead of Max Verstappen in qualifying. The Mexican was in front since the start of the weekend anyway. He also complained at the end of the session about not having been able to start his engine in time in Q3, which would have cost him precious seconds on his warm-up lap before the last run. 

FIFTEEN POLE POSITIONS IN FORMULA ONE 💪💪💪#esseFerrari 🔴 #AzerbaijanGP pic.twitter.com/pnHkwn0zTd

- Scuderia Ferrari (@ScuderiaFerrari) June 11, 2022

The best of the others is once again George Russell, who also once again beats the owner of the stable Lewis Hamilton the Mercedes are still in difficulty, since they display a delta of 1″3 on the time established by Charles Leclerc. Superb performance from the Frenchman Pierre Gasly, who slipped between Russell and Hamilton in 6th place. Author of a podium the previous year here, the Norman is taking a deep breath after four difficult weekends. Also note the 10th place of Fernando Alonso for Alpine. 

Lance Stroll fouls twice

For their part, the McLaren were eliminated in Q2, Lando Norris finishing 11th, just ahead of his teammate Daniel Ricciardo. The frustration is for the Briton who was two tenths ahead of the reference time which would have allowed him to progress to Q3, but a slip in the last corner before the esses of the main straight prevented him from doing so. Disappointment also for Esteban Ocon, since the Habs were eliminated in Q2, their lap having been ruined by a yellow flag. He will start 13th, ahead of the two Alfa Romeo de Guanyu-Zhou et Valtteri Bottas.

Like last year, Lance stroll was the first to cause a red flag. The Canadian first shot straight into a techpro at the start of the slow section in sector 2, before finally hitting a lap later at turn 2, causing a red flag just 2'30 from the end of Q1. When Q1 was restarted for two short minutes, there was obviously some jostling on the exit lap but Valtteri Bottas, who was in the cart, escaped at the last minute. Both Haas and both Williams will therefore be at the end of the grid with Stroll for the Grand Prix on Sunday (13 p.m.).

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