Charles Leclerc says he did not expect Ferrari to be able to beat Red Bull around Baku City Circuit until his lap which claimed pole position.
Leclerc was 0.143 seconds off Max Verstappen’s fastest time in Q1 and 0.091 seconds off Sergio Perez’s in Q2. However, he took pole in Q3 by 0.282 from Perez and 0.347 from Verstappen, setting an much-improved lap in the final minutes before the chequered flag.
Leclerc said beating the Red Bulls to pole “feels good”. He will start first for the fourth race in a row.
“Obviously, all pole positions feel good but this one I probably didn’t expect it because I thought that Red Bull was strongest in Q1 and Q2, I really struggled to see that we were faster.
“But then in the last lap everything came together and in the end I managed to do a good lap, so [I’m] extremely happy.”
Leclerc also took pole in Monaco but finished fourth after misfortune in traffic and questionable tactical decisions by his team. Nonetheless he is optimistic for the race due to the improved tyre management Ferrari demonstrated in Barcelona and Monaco.
“I’m really excited for tomorrow,” Leclerc enthused. “I think we’ll have quite a bit of of answers tomorrow because tyre management is a big thing here.
“In Barcelona and Monaco I think we were managing it well, even though in Monaco it was difficult to see anything but overall our race pace has done a step up since we brought the upgrades, so tomorrow will be very interesting whether it will be the case here too.”
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2022 Azerbaijan Grand Prix
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