Max Verstappen will start third at the Grand Prix of Azerbaijan on Sunday. The Red Bull Racing driver had to acknowledge his superiority in qualifying in Charles Leclerc and teammate Sergio Pérez.
It is the sixth time in eight races that Leclerc has managed to take pole position.
Delay
Qualifying in Baku started a little later than planned due to a crash in Formula 2. As a result, the entire program moved slightly and so did qualifying. With a fifteen minute delay, the 20 drivers made an attempt to survive the first qualifying round on the street circuit. As expected, the top drivers had little trouble with that. Max Verstappen, Charles Leclerc, Sergio Pérez and Carlos Sainz did use the first qualifying round to test their cars again.
red flag
Verstappen was ultimately fastest in the first qualifying lap, which was interrupted by a red flag after Lance Stroll crashed. He misjudged a turn and saw his front wing fall. A few minutes earlier, the Canadian also misjudged a corner.
Aston Martin
In the second qualifying round, the Red Bull and Ferrari drivers continued to improve their times. In the backfield another Aston Martin hit the wall. After Stroll, Sebastian Vettel was also unable to keep his car upright. He was able to continue his battle for a place in the top ten and also qualified for the final qualifying round. The fastest time in the second qualifying round went to Sergio Pérez. Verstappen set the fourth fastest time, but did not go full in Q2.
Sainz
In the decisive third qualifying round, Carlos Sainz was the first to set a top time with a 47-thousandth lead over his teammate Charles Leclerc. Verstappen didn’t come close and was almost two hundredths slower than the Ferrari drivers. Teammate Pérez was also faster than the Limburger. The Red Bulls did not drive a flawless round.
second row
In the very last and decisive run it was again Sainz who was allowed to try to improve his time. The Spaniard couldn’t improve his own time, but saw Leclerc do. The Monegask rode a very strong lap and set a time of 1.41.359. Verstappen did not get there and was more than three hundredths slower than Leclerc. Moments later, Pérez was also faster than the Limburger, which means that Verstappen has to start from the second row on Sunday. He finds Carlos Sainz next to him on P4.
Live
The Grand Prix of Azerbaijan can be followed live on Sunday from 13:00 in a live blog on 1Limburg.
Check out Pitlane, L1’s motorsport program with a preview of the race in Baku: