(Motorsport) After a torrid start to the 2023 season, last year’s runner up Scuderia Ferrari have bounced back in style with Charles Leclerc finishing on pole at the Azerbaijan GP qualifying. A four week break following the Australian Grand Prix has delivered a huge performance boost for the Italian manufacturers at the Baku City Circuit. Leclerc managed to get an identical time to Verstappen in the first runs of the final part of qualifying but then improved it with a 1:40.203, almost 0.2s ahead of the Dutchman while Sergio Perez finished third.

The result means that Leclerc will now start from the front on Sunday’s Grand Prix which will take place after Saturday’s standalone double of Sprint qualifying and a shortened race. Carlos Sainz finished in fourth place for Ferrari while Lewis Hamilton finished ahead of Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso in fifth place. 

Mercedes’ George Russell had a disappointing qualifying session and was left 11th after a disappointing Q2 exit. McLaren’s Lando Norris took advantage of the upgrades and finished seventh while his teammate Oscar Piastri was 10th. It was Leclerc’s third consecutive pole in Azerbaijan in what was an action packed Qualifying session which was twice interrupted in Q1 by crashes for AlphaTauri’s Nyck de Vries and Alpine’s Pierre Gasly which resulted in red flags. 

Azerbaijan GP Qualifying Result

1) Charles Leclerc, Ferrari

2) Max Verstappen, Red Bull

3) Sergio Perez, Red Bull

4) Carlos Sainz, Ferrari

5) Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes

6) Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin

7) Lando Norris, McLaren

8) Yuki Tsunoda, AlphaTauri

9) Lance Stroll, Aston Martin

10) Oscar Piastri, McLaren

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