It's Friday and we already have the starting grid for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. To take pole position is Ferrari with Charles Leclerc! The Monegasque closes qualifying ahead of the two Red Bulls of Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez.
Ferrari, hold on to Leclerc
An incredible pole. Extraordinary result from Charles Leclerc who, if desired, in the most difficult moment, with many rumors about his future and not only, wins a first place that is worth gold. Already this morning it was seen that his SF-23 had the pace to be able to fight with the Red Bull, at least in the dry lap. Ferrari is back, at least for the moment, where he deserves to be, also considering the fourth square of Carlos Sainz. And now, the head is already in Sunday's race.
The delusion
The twist comes from home Classic Mercedes for sale. In FP1 of the morning, the Brackley team focused mainly on race pace. The spark did not arrive in qualifying, with the disappointment registered Russell who will be called to a comeback race. Indeed, the Briton concludes in eleventh place in the standings, therefore excluded from the top ten. In front of him instead a good Hamilton who finishes in fifth position. There will be work to do in Mercedes, which in any case has the opportunity to make up for it tomorrow with the Sprint format.
The first fruits are seen
The first updates at home are starting to appear McLaren. In fact, the Woking team, following the (clearly first) updates to the fund, closes in the top ten with both riders. Norris, since the morning in feeling with the track, he finished eighth. The teammate's performance is also excellent Piastri who closes the top ten. Now, for McLaren, there is an absolute need to materialize in the race on Sunday, bringing home points that would be gold.
Qualification to forget
At the back of the grid are the three drivers who suffered various difficulties in Q1. Kevin Magnussen, due to a problem on his car, closes eighteenth, in front of Pierre gasly. A Friday to forget for the Frenchman who, after the reliability problem in FP1, made a bad mistake in Q1 e will start nineteenth. Same fate for the AlphaTauri of Nyck De Vries who ends up in last position, after a block in Q1. Sunday's race won't be easy for the Dutchman, who will be called upon to make a great comeback.
Tomorrow is the Sprint
So we have the starting grid for Sunday's race at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. The action on the track quietly returns tomorrow, with the day dedicated to the Sprint. In fact, at 10.30 we will have the qualification, the Sprint Shootout, who will decide the starting grid of the Sprint scheduled, always tomorrow, at 15.30 hours.
GP Azerbaijan, the results of the qualifications
1 Charles Leclerc
2 Max Verstappen
3 Sergio Perez
4 Carlos Sainz
5 Lewis Hamilton
6 Fernando Alonso
7 Lando Norris
8 Yuki Tsunoda
9 Lance Stroll
10 Oscar Plates
11George Russell
12 Esteban Ocon
13 Alexander Albon
14 Valtteri Bottas
15 Logan Sargeant
16 Guanyu Zhou
17 Nico Hulkenberg
18Kevin Magnussen
19 Pierre Gasly
20 Nyck DeVries
