Fourth consecutive pole for Leclerc in Baku: “It’s one of my favourite circuits”

Charles Leclerc accumulates nicknames this season: Prince of Monaco, King of Monza… and now, Master of Baku? In any case, the years go by and the Azeri capital truly becomes its garden each time the Formula 1 in Azerbaijan. After 2021, 2022 and 2023, the Monegasque has just signed a new pole position, the fourth consecutive in Baku.

Two weeks after his magnificent victory in front of the tifosi in Italy, the driver of the Team took his third pole position of the season after Monaco and Belgium. On a circuit that he greatly appreciates – and which he masters almost perfectly – Charles Leclerc disgusted the competition by posting two amazing times in Q3, brushing the limit and the walls on several occasions. With a fast SF-24 on these high-speed circuits, the Monegasque can hope to do the double after Monza, and will also be able to count on his teammate Carlos Sainz (3rd on the grid) to organize a team strategy.

Charles Leclerc (Ferrari), poleman for the Azerbaijan GP : “It’s one of my favourite tracks on the calendar. I really like it. It wasn’t an easy weekend, obviously because of the crash in FP1, but it didn’t make me lose confidence. I knew the pace was there, but we had to get back on track and in FP2 we had a problem with a new part that we brought to the car, so we lost another half hour. Those are laps that you never make up. I wasn’t worried, but I knew we were behind, but the speed is there. In qualifying, up until Q3, you had to stay away from the walls, and on that last lap I pushed a little bit more. The time was very good. The car is really good, everything was great, it’s incredible to be on pole.”

“It’s the best position we could have hoped for (with Sainz just behind in third). On the other side of the grid there’s less grip, so first and third are the positions you want to start from. Hopefully we can play a team game [on Sunday] to win the race. However, it’s going to be a long race. In the past we’ve been very strong in qualifying and then struggled in the race, this year we’ve got a better car for the race. I hope we will finally manage [to win in Baku] on Sunday." 

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