Charles Leclerc secured his fourth consecutive Baku pole position. The Ferrari driver proved that he really feels at home on this unusual track, where no one has managed to beat him over a single lap since 2021 onwards. In fact, apart from these four poles, he was also quickest in last year’s Sprint Shootout. This was the Monegasque’s 26th pole, his third this year, while for Ferrari it’s number 252, its fifth at this track, the first here dating back to 2018 courtesy of Sebastian Vettel.

Leclerc’s 1’41”365 put over three tenths between himself and second placed Oscar Piastri (1’41”686 for McLaren) and was 44 hundredths quicker than team-mate Carlos Sainz, third in 1’41”805.

THE DAY ON TRACK
It wasn’t just Ferrari that made red the day’s dominant colour as the Soft tyre was practically the only compound used across the third free practice session and in qualifying. One exception was down to the now usual habit of scrubbing-in tyres for the race adopted by the trio of teams, Aston Martin, Racing Bulls and Sauber and the other was Mercedes whose drivers tackled at least one run on the Medium in Q1.

There were also a couple of red flags that reduced track time in FP3 and that meant no teams managed to do long runs with a heavy fuel load in preparation for the race.

Leclerc was presented with the Pirelli Pole Position Award by the Colombian singer J Balvin. The reggaeton singer is one of the most successful Latin artists in the world, with record sales of over 35 million. J Balvin has won five Billboard Latin Music Awards and has worked with Beyoncé, Pharrell Williams, Camila Cabelo, David Guetta and Cardi B. The single “Mi Gente”, with Willy William, is one of his best known songs.

MARIO ISOLA - HEAD OF F1 AND CAR RACING
“It really seems as though Leclerc has a special feeling for this track as it’s not often you see a driver take four consecutive poles at the same Grand Prix!

“Once again today we saw the track get quicker and quicker the more laps the cars did, but we are still a long way off, not just the time expected from the teams’ simulations of 1’39”4, but also far from last year’s pole (1’40”203), which shows there is still room for more track evolution during the race.

“In terms of strategy, on paper, the one-stop is definitely the quickest option at this track, with Medium and Hard the most suitable for the 51 lap race. A two-stop only becomes credible if there is a Safety Car in the second half of the race and that’s probably why many drivers have held back two sets of C3 for tomorrow afternoon. Theoretically, based on an initial look at the data, the first stop should come between laps 13 and 20 for those who opt to start on the Medium, while those who leave the grid on Hards should pit between laps 32 and 38. Clearly, a neutralisation could lead to a run of pit stops, as we saw last year for example. One factor to consider will be graining, given that the track is still very dirty."

FORMULA 2
Joshua Duerksen (AIX Racing) produced a great drive, going from fourth to first in the Sprint race to take his first win in the category. The Paraguayan was victorious in a race that saw plenty of overtaking and incidents, crossing the line over three seconds ahead of second placed Jak Crawford (DAMS Lucas Oil) while, on his debut in this category, Gabriele Minì (PREMA Racing) fended off Victor Martins all the way to the flag to claim third place.

Thermal degradation on the Soft tyre was consistent and increased significantly towards half-distance. A Safety Car further complicated the situation for some drivers, especially those who had pushed a lot in the early stages. They then struggled to get the front axle up to temperature because of graining and were thus vulnerable to being overtaken in the closing stages.