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Charles Leclerc collided with a wall but still qualified in pole position for Saturday’s sprint race as the Azerbaijan Grand Prix played host to Formula 1’s inaugural sprint shootout.
The Ferrari driver, who also qualified fastest on Friday for Sunday’s race, set a quick time midway through the last session of the shootout before veering into a barrier and damaging his front wing.
Red Bull’s Sergio Perez and Max Verstappen each had a flying lap to try to top Leclerc’s time but fell short, with Perez finishing second and Verstappen third.
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“With the soft (tyres) it was a little tricky because we hadn’t driven on the tyres since yesterday,” Leclerc told Sky Sports.
“The conditions are very different, it was behaving much differently. The rear overheated on the second lap, I tried to push a bit more to gain some lap time and lost it in turn five.
“I’m very happy with the first lap and we now need to confirm that in the race.
“We will go for it. We need to be realistic. Until now we have been on the back foot in the race. The Red Bull seems to be a step ahead. Let’s see how it is, hopefully we will get a good surprise. I think we improved the car quite a bit but today we will have more of an answer of where we are compared to them.”
The Baku City Circuit will host the first sprint of the season, alongside the debut of a revised weekend format.
Under the new changes, the sprint shootout replaced free practice two and determined the line-up for the subsequent 17-lap sprint race.
Previously, F1 race weekends had a standard qualifying session for the sprint race and then used the sprint results to set the grid for the showpiece race.
As the sprint will no longer have any impact on the grand prix – aside from potential grid penalties for driving infringements – it is hoped the changes will encourage drivers to engage in hard racing.
Williams driver Logan Sargeant qualified 15th for the sprint after crashing in the first segment of the shootout.
The rookie appeared to blame the Ferraris of Leclerc and Carlos Sainz, who were not on competitive laps, for forcing him wide as he tried to pass on a tight corner.
“Man, the Ferraris were in the middle of the road,” Sargeant could be heard saying over team radio.
Alpine’s troubled weekend continued as Esteban Ocon qualified 13th and Pierre Gasly 19th following what the team called a “suspected exhaust leak”.
Gasly also qualified 19th for the main race after a horror day on track, which saw him crash in qualifying and suffer an engine fire in practice Alpine to replace the entire power unit, including the exhaust of his A523.
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