On Saturday in Baku, a street circuit always full of shocks, it was favorable for

Charles Leclerc

, author of a sensational

pole

(1: 41.218) ahead of

Lewis Hamilton

and

Max Verstappen

. It was a surprise even for the Ferrari leader himself, benefited by an involuntary slipstream from the seven-time champion and the last red flag, which would abort any attempt to improve his rivals. The break would also cancel the options of

Carlos Sainz

, fifth, or

Fernando Alonso

, ninth, although at last ahead of his garage companion.

In some streets where each error is penalized against the wall, the classification was altered by five red flags. The last, provoked by

Yuki Tsunoda

, made it easier for Leclerc, for the second consecutive race at the front of the grid. Everything caught himself by surprise. "I thought it had been shit back, with two previous mistakes, but in the last sector I had that help from Hamilton," admitted the Monegasque.

Rage, on the other hand, took its toll on Verstappen, the main favorite for

pole

despite his accident in the last free practice session.

"A stupid classification, with all this shit that always happens," lamented

Mad Max

into the microphone of

Johnny Herbert

.

Despite everything, the pace of his Red Bull seems superior in the race.

And this track is one of the most conducive to overtaking in the championship.

"A little tired of this"

Only one hundredth of the best Red Bull would finish Sainz, again relegated by contingencies beyond his control.

On the last attempt, when he was improving almost two tenths, he ran into Tsunoda's accident.

"A little tired of the car in front crashing," said the Madrilenian, still with options to fight for the podium, given the regular pace of his SF21.

Taking advantage of an involuntary slipstream from Hamilton, Leclerc had left him three tenths behind.

Mercedes bet heavily on that game in the wake of this, sacrificing Bottas for the benefit of the seven-time champion (1: 41.450).

The example would spread in AlphaTauri, between

Pierre Gasly

and Tsunoda, although the rookie finally threw it all to the ground.

The culmination of a qualifying session lasting almost an hour and a half, the most eventful in recent times.

Four minutes into Q1 was less than four minutes into Q1 when

Lance Stroll

smashed the right side of his front wing against the wall at Turn 15. At that point, only Leclerc had completed a full lap, so nervous weather took hold. the entire

paddock

.

The 11-minute stoppage for red flags only benefited Williams, working against the clock to regain power in

George Russell's

car

.

Norris, with red flags

When they cleared the track again,

Antonio Giovinazzi

sank his options at the same point as Stroll, although at that time both Alonso already had a relatively reassuring time, although half a second

behind Esteban Ocon

. Both

Kimi Raikkonen

and Russell improved the time of the two-time champion, who could only keep going from fifteenth position. Over 40 minutes to complete the first screening, where

Lando Norris

refused to pit with red flags and Hamilton gave his first warning (1: 41.5).

There was so much respect among the favorites that not a single one wanted the medium tires for Q2. After the first attempt, just nine thousandths between Verstappen, Pérez and Hamilton, with only half a second between the first and the eleventh.

Daniel Ricciardo

, one of the most demanding, took turn 3 without any control. With two and a half minutes to go, that red flag would abort the rest of the operations in Q2. Who could feel most satisfied was again Alonso, tenth (1: 42.195), with 29 thousandths of a margin over

Sebastian Vettel

.

For the first time since Bahrain, the two-time world champion will start ahead of his teammate at Alpine.

Among the animators, at that time,

Yuki Tsunoda

stood out

, with an Alpha Tauri almost on the same level as his older Red Bull brothers.

The last mistake of the Japanese would end up decanting everything.

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Know more

  • sports

  • Formula 1

  • Fernando Alonso

  • Carlos Sainz Jr

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