Unlucky Ferrari star dazzles as pole king in Baku – George Russell was responsible for the giant bang of qualifying

Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc overcame his early season difficulties and drove for the third time in a row to the pole position at the Baku street circuit. Valtteri Bottas managed to beat his teammate.

The early season of the Formula Ones has so far been in full control of the Red Bull drivers. In the qualifying sessions in Baku, however, the pack got some life, when Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc beat both top cars and took the pole position with a difference of almost two tenths.

The first three races of the season were very difficult for last year’s World Championship runner-up. In the opening race in Bahrain, Leclerc was close to the podium, but had to stop the car due to reliability problems. In Saudi Arabia, Leclerc was the third fastest in qualifying, but he had to start at the back due to a grid penalty.

In the previous race in Australia, the Ferrari star crashed on the opening lap.

In Baku, however, the ride between Leclerc and Ferrari was good throughout Friday. The Baku street circuit is a particularly tasty place for Leclerc, because the pole position is his third consecutive place there.

Red Bull Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez conquered the following starting squares. However, Verstappen, who leads the World Series, is confident that Red Bull will have more race pace on Sunday.

Last season, Leclerc often drove to pole position, but compared to Red Bull, the race pace often became a challenge for Ferrari.

Alfa Romeo Valtteri Bottas was 14th and beat his teammate to Zhou Guanu, who didn’t make it to the second section. The Finnish striker has been in trouble with his fast Chinese teammate since the beginning of the season.

Russell flopped

However, the biggest hit of the time trials was Mercedes’ star driver of George Russell elimination from the final section. The British driver’s pace was only enough for 11th place and he was his teammate for the first time this season Lewis Hamilton slower.

Russell beat Hamilton in the World Championship points last season in his Mercedes debut season.

The time trial was interrupted in the middle of the first section when AlphaTaurin Nyck De Vries slammed into the wall. It took several minutes to move the car.

The section was only able to be continued for a couple of minutes before it crashed again. Alpine’s French shock Pierre Gaslyn the car flew into the wall at almost the same spot. Around the same time Ferran Carlos Sainz rotated in a different place. The time trial was stopped for a while again.

The weekend in Baku continues on Saturday with the first sprint race of the season. Before that, the first sprint time trial is run.

However, the sprint is now its own separate race, so the starting order of the actual race on Sunday is determined by the time trials.