BAKU CITY, Azerbaijan — Ferrari wheelman Charles Leclerc will start from the pole for Sunday’s Azerbaijan Grand Prix for the third consecutive season.
Leclerc got the best of two-time world champion Max Verstappen during a hotly contested qualifying session on Friday evening at the Baku City Circuit.
Leclerc’s Ferrari turned a best lap of one minute and 40.203 seconds, edging Verstappen’s Red Bull machine for the top spot by a mere .188 seconds.
With Leclerc adding to his 2021 and 2022 poles at the venue, Verstappen settling for second and Sergio Perez securing third in the other Red Bull, Carlos Sainz was fourth in the second Ferrari.
Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso were fifth and sixth, respectively, for Mercedes and Aston Martin.
McLaren’s Lando Norris and AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda rounded out the top eight.
Qualifying set the lineup for Sunday’s grand prix, while a separate qualifying session will be run on Saturday morning to determine the lineup for that afternoon’s first Sprint Race of the campaign.