Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) will start the Formula 1 sprint race in Azerbaijan after setting the fastest qualifying time on Saturday in the streets of the capital Baku.
The Monegasque driver will start ahead of the Red Bulls of Mexican Sergio Pérez, 2nd, and championship leader Max Verstappen, 3rd for the sprint race, which will start later in the day at 3:30 p.m.
Long of just over 100 km swallowed in about thirty minutes, this race offers points to the championship: from eight points for the first to one point for the 8th.
Before the arrival of the paddock in the streets of Baku, Verstappen, the last winner in Azerbaijan, was 15 points ahead of the championship (69 pts) over Pérez (54 pts) and 24 over the Spaniard Fernando Alonso (45 pts), qualified 8th for the sprint. Verstappen will start on Saturday ahead of the Mercedes of Briton George Russell, 4th.
In order to determine the starting grid for the GP on Sunday, the drivers competed in a first qualifying session on Friday which had already seen Charles Leclerc shine. The Scuderia driver will start on pole ahead of Verstappen.
The Azerbaijan GP, 4th round of the season, is the first of the six races of the year to offer the sprint format inaugurated in 2021. But unlike what was done until then, the sprint now has its own session of qualifications called “sprint shootout”, shorter than a classic session.
This first “sprint shootout” in the history of F1 was also marked on Saturday by a single red flag at the very end of the first part of qualifying (Q1), when the American Logan Sargeant came to hit a wall, damaging heavily the right-back of his Williams.
On the French side, Pierre Gasly’s dark weekend continues. After a nightmarish Friday, the Norman did no better than the 19th time on Saturday, hampered by an exhaust problem. His Alpine teammate Esteban Ocon will start from 13th place.
