Azerbaijan GP: Leclerc secures inaugural Sprint Shootout pole despite late crash

Despite a crash late on in Sprint Qualifying Three, Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc secured the fastest lap on the inaugural Sprint Shootout session, ahead of Red Bull’s Sergio Perez.

SQ1

Due to the reduced nature of the Sprint Shootout, the majority of the drivers were out in the pit lane and quickly followed by the heavy hitters, such as the Red Bulls and Ferraris, who slowly peeled out onto the track.

In this new format, the first qualifying third takes place over 12 minutes, 10 minutes for the second session and only eight seconds for the top 10 shoot-out.

As per the regulations, the teams and drivers were forced to use a new set of medium tyres for both SQ1 (Sprint Qualifying 1) and SQ2 while in SQ3 the drivers will be booted with a fresh set of soft compound tyres.

Of the first banked laps, Leclerc topped the timing boards with a 1:43.372 lap, 0.191 seconds ahead of Verstappen and Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll who occupied second and third respectively, with five minutes left on the clock.

McLaren’s Australian rookie, Oscar Piastri was the first driver to bring out the yellow flags as he bailed out of the corner at turn three. This action was echoed by Alpha Tauri’s Nyck De Vries shortly after, who managed to divert his AT04 down the escape road.

In the last minutes of SQ1, Alpine’s Pierre Gasly peeled into the pit lane with a suspected issue. It was later reported that there was a leak on his exhaust, and Alpine did not need another fiery situation with Gasly’s car as he did on Friday.

However, the session was soon red-flagged – and wouldn’t be resumed – after the Williams of Logan Sargeant collided with the barrier on the outside of turn 15 and severely damaged the FW43’s rear-right suspension.

“Man the Ferraris were in the middle of the road,” claimed Sargeant after he hit the wall. Replays showed Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz cut the corner to stay out of the Williams way. However, turbulent air from Sainz’s wake and the Spaniard’s attempt to avoid Sargeant may have played a part in the American’s crash.

Eliminated:

20. Nyck De Vries, Alpha Tauri

19. Pierre Gasly, Alpine

18. Yuki Tsunoda, Alpha Tauri

17. Valtteri Bottas, Alfa Romeo

16. Guanyu Zhou, Alfa Romeo 

SQ2

In a similar manner to SQ1, the queue was formed ahead of the pit exit light going green.

Haas’ Nico Hulkenberg soon brought out the yellow flags on his first timed run as the German driver locked up into turn seven. Fortunately, Hulkenberg was able to keep his car out of the barrier and continue on albeit 51 seconds off the pace due to his misfortune.

With three minutes left on the clock, Verstappen peeled into the pit lane as the Dutchman and his team believed he had a good enough lap – a 1:42.417 – to secure his place in SQ3, without the additional pressure on his medium tyres. Verstappen was soon joined by his teammate, Sergio Perez, who peeled into the pitlane.

Sainz brought out the yellow flags once more, in the last minute of SQ2, as the Spaniard locked up his right-front tyre on the entry to turn 15. Fortunately, the Spanish driver managed to divert down the escape road to keep himself in qualifying.

Eliminated: 

15. Logan Sargeant, Williams

14. Kevin Magnussen, Haas

13. Esteban Ocon, Alpine

12. Nico Hulkenberg, Haas

11. Oscar Piastri, McLaren

SQ3

Four minutes prior to the start of SQ3, the Red Bull duo of Verstappen and Perez sat at the pit exit, at the front of the queue, as they waited for the pit exit light to go green.

With eight minutes on the clock for the final third, Perez was the first driver out on track ahead of both Verstappen, Alexander Albon (Williams) and Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes), as the rest of the field filtered out onto the circuit.

McLaren’s Lando Norris was the only driver to remain within his pit garage as the Woking-based team did not have a fresh set of soft tyres to conform with the mandatory regulations for the top 10 shootout.

Of the first timed laps, Leclerc topped the timing boards with a 1:41.6, ahead of both Perez and Verstappen who occupied second and third respectively.

Despite their best attempts to topple Leclerc from the top spot, Perez and Verstappen were forced to deal with a second and third place start respectively, ahead of the Sprint.

This came after Leclerc lost his rear tyres at the corner entry of turn five. When the Ferrari driver lost control of his car, he was able to quickly correct his steering but soon found himself in the barrier.

Fortunately, the Monegasque was able to continue on although he did affect Sainz’s final lap due to the subsequent yellow flags that the Spaniard travelled through.

Further down the field, both Aston Martin’s of Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll suffered DRS malfunctions which meant the flap did not open up when it should’ve. As a result, both Aston Martins finished eighth and ninth with Alonso ahead of his teammate.

Top 10:

10. Lando Norris, McLaren

9. Lance Stroll, Aston Martin

8. Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin

7. Alexander Albon, Williams

6. Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes

5. Carlos Sainz, Ferrari

4. George Russell, Mercedes

3. Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing

2. Sergio Perez, Red Bull Racing

1. Charles Leclerc, Ferrari

That’s all for the article; Azerbaijan GP: Leclerc secures inaugural Sprint Shootout pole despite late crash!

What did you think of the first-ever Sprint Shootout? Let us know in the comments!

Read more Formula 1 here:

• Azerbaijan GP: Verstappen on top in dramatic sole practice session
• Wolff urges ‘no magic bullet’ as Mercedes look to improve W14
• Franz Tost to stand down from Alpha Tauri at end of year
• F1 reveal Sprint Shootout ahead of Azerbaijan race weekend
• Australian GP promoter found to breach rules after fans invade circuit
• FIA dismiss Haas provisional race classification protest

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