Carlos Sainz denied first F1 pole for Azerbaijan GP as Charles Leclerc finds monster lap

Carlos Sainz was denied the first pole position of his career as Charles Leclerc edged out his Ferrari team-mate in qualifying for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.

In a session in which there was rarely anything of note to separate the two teams, any one of their four drivers could have been the one to ensure he starts at the front for Sunday's race. But as the sun set in Baku, it was the Monegasque who felt the joy of pole ahead of team-mate Sainz, and Red Bull duo Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez.

For a long time it looked as though his Spanish team-mate had done enough, but in the end Leclerc, Verstappen and Perez all put in quicker times and suddenly provisional pole had turned into fourth for Sainz. Perez beat Red Bull partner Verstappen to start on the front row, and it could have been even better if he had not had a slight engine issue which delayed him in getting to the track.

Lance Stroll was the first to rule himself out of contention in Q1, crashing his Aston Martin twice in as many minutes. The first caused little to no damage as he kissed a soft barrier with his front wing, but the second saw it come flying off and his front right wheel damaged, meaning he was not going to improve from 19th.

Williams pair Alexander Albon and Nicholas Latifi were in the danger zone along with Mick Schumacher, but it was Valtteri Bottas who was also a surprise face in the bottom five. They all made it to the line in time to get in one more flying lap, and Bottas avoided a first Q1 elimination in seven years by scraping into 15th – at the expense of Kevin Magnussen in the other Haas.

Charles Leclerc's pole-securing lap was extremely quick, almost half a second faster than the time set by Carlos Sainz (REUTERS)

But he couldn't improve any more, finishing bottom in Q2 with team-mate Zhou Guanyu unable to do much better. Lando Norris made an error on his final hot lap which cost him a place in Q3, while the other McLaren driver Daniel Ricciardo and Alpine's Esteban Ocon also finished their day's work a little earlier than they would have liked.

Lewis Hamilton made it to Q3 after getting a tow off his Mercedes team-mate, but will be investigated later by the stewards after being accused of driving unnecessarily slowly. In doing so, he disadvantaged Norris who will feel aggrieved to be starting in the bottom half of the grid for that reason.

Fernando Alonso made it to that final part of the session but couldn't do better than 10th, behind Sebastian Vettel who may well be pleased with ninth. Hamilton was sandwiched in seventh by AlphaTauri duo Pierre Gasly and Yuki Tsunoda, with George Russell starting fifth behind the Ferrari and Red Bull drivers.

Full Azerbaijan Grand Prix qualifying result

1. Charles Leclerc - Ferrari
2. Sergio Perez - Red Bull
3. Max Verstappen - Red Bull
4. Carlos Sainz - Ferrari

5. George Russell - Mercedes

6. Pierre Gasly - AlphaTauri
7. Lewis Hamilton - Mercedes
8. Yuki Tsunoda - AlphaTauri
9. Sebastian Vettel - Aston Martin
10. Fernando Alonso - Alpine
11. Lando Norris - McLaren
12. Daniel Ricciardo - McLaren
13. Esteban Ocon - Alpine
14. Zhou Guanyu - Alfa Romeo
15. Valtteri Bottas - Alfa Romeo
16. Kevin Magnussen - Haas
17. Alexander Albon - Williams
18. Nicholas Latifi - Williams
19. Lance Stroll - Aston Martin
20. Mick Schumacher - Haas