Charles Leclerc conquers the Baku streets as Ferrari takes the fight to the field

Over the past few Formula 1 race weekends, the discussion has centered on a two-way fight between Red Bull and McLaren for the Constructors’ Championship.

Well, it is time to make room at the table for a third team, because Ferrari has earned an invitation to that fight.

Fresh off his stunning win at the Italian Grand Prix, Charles Leclerc stormed to the front of the field during qualifying at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix to capture pole position. Leclerc has loved this circuit over his F1 career, taking pole position for both the F1 Sprint Race and the Grand Prix in Baku a season ago, but last year Red Bull had the dominant race package with the RB19.

2024 is different, and this year Ferrari has the race pace to match — and beat — Red Bull.

Starting right behind Leclerc on Sunday? Teammate Carlos Sainz Jr., who qualified third.

“I think we had a solid quali, a solid day in general, and we’ve put ourselves in a really good position for tomorrow,” said Sainz following qualifying to Alex Brundle. “All to play for tomorrow.”

But the man of the hour was Leclerc.

“It’s one of my favorite tracks of the season,” said Leclerc. “I knew that the pace was there.”

Leclerc noted that having Sainz behind him gives Ferrari a great chance to win on Sunday.

“It’s the best we could have hoped for. First and third is where you want to start, hopefully we can play a team game tomorrow to win the race.”

Again, much has been made of McLaren trailing Red Bull by just eight points in the Constructors’ Championship.

Ferrari is just 39 points behind Red Bull.

Game on.

Here are the full qualifying results, and more winners and losers from the Azerbaijan Grand Prix:

Winner: Oscar Piastri
After all the discussion of team orders heading into the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, team orders will likely not be on the table on Sunday.

With Lando Norris starting at the back of the pack — more on that in a moment — Oscar Piastri was left as the sole McLaren in Q3 for the first time this season. He made the most of it, putting his MCL38 on the front row where he will start alongside Leclerc.

That also means that he’ll be starting ahead of both Red Bull drivers, as Sergio Pérez qualified fourth and Max Verstappen down in sixth. So McLaren still has a chance to chip away at Red Bull’s lead in the Constructors’ Championship given Piastri’s starting position.

But they might have had a better chance if the end of Q1 had gone a different way.

Loser: Lando Norris
Lando Norris’ qualifying performance Saturday could be summed up in one word, as it was by Jolyon Palmer on F1TV.

Catastrophic.

For the first time since last year’s inaugural Las Vegas Grand Prix, Norris was eliminated in Q1. While that elimination came in the penultimate race in a season where McLaren finished fourth in the Constructors’ Championship, and Norris sixth in the Drivers’ Championship, 2024 is a different ballgame.

At the moment Norris is chasing Max Verstappen for the Drivers’ Championship — he entered the weekend 62 points behind the Red Bull driver in that fight — and McLaren is in a three-way battle with Red Bull and Ferrari for the Constructors’ title.

Norris needed to deliver on his final push lap in Q1 to advance into Q2, but the combination of a brief yellow flag in the final sector of the lap that caused Norris to lift off the throttle, and a mistake into the main straight, saw Norris abort that final push lap and duck into the pits.

He finished 17th and will have a lot of ground to make up on Sunday.

McLaren sent Norris and Oscar Piastri out for their final runs on used soft tires, hoping to save a fresh set for later in the session. While Piastri made it work as noted above, Norris was left outside looking in.

“Lap was easily good enough, but a yellow flag so I had to back off,” said Norris to the official F1 channel following Q1. “Following is pretty much impossible around here and overtaking is I think a lot worse than what everyone thinks … I’m honestly not expecting much from 17th.”

With Piastri starting on the front row, McLaren still has a chance to eat away at Red Bull’s lead. But Norris starting at the back of the field is a bitter pill for the driver, and the team, to swallow heading into Sunday.

Winners: Williams
For the first time this season, Williams saw both cars in Q3.

One driver had been there before this season, the experienced Alexander Albon. That might not have been a surprise, given the strength Williams has shown on the straights the past two seasons.

But young Franco Colapinto, storming into Q3 in his first weekend on the Baku city streets, and after crashing back in FP1?

That was a bit of a surprise and an incredible one at that.

After the opening runs in Q3, the duo was down in P8 and P9, with Albon ahead of the rookie. But Williams sent both drivers out on scrubbed soft tires, saving a fresh set for their final runs.

However, those final runs got off to a rocky start, with Albon pulling out with a cooling unit still attached to his FW46. He was able to pull to the side of the track and pull the unit off himself, tossing it to the side, before taking off on his final run around the circuit:

Formula 1

Still, the marshalls will likely have a word with him following the session.

Q3 ended with the Williams duo at the back of the pack, as Albon qualified tenth and Colapinto up in ninth. But even with the unsafe release for Albon, it was a strong day for the team.

And in particular, the rookie driver who is making quite the name for himself this weekend.

Losers: Sauber
Sauber’s search for that elusive first point of the 2024 season rolls on, and it is unlikely they will find that point on the streets of Baku.

The day began with word that Zhou Guanyu, due to taking new components on his C44, would start the Azerbaijan Grand Prix at the back of the grid. Given that he was locked into that spot, the best card Sauber had to play was to try and get Valtteri Bottas at least into Q2, perhaps by Zhou giving him a tow during Q1.

While they executed the tow near the end of the first segment of qualifying, it still was not enough as both drivers were eliminated in Q1.

The search goes on …

Incomplete: Red Bull
With Norris’ elimination in Q1, the door was open for Red Bull — who had shown strength on Friday on the Baku city streets — to throw down the gauntlet in the Constructors’ Championship.

Instead, Sergio Pérez and Max Verstappen will roll off the line on Sunday behind both Ferrari drivers as well as Piastri, and are in danger of seeing their slim leads over McLaren and Ferrari shrink even more.

For the first time since Miami in 2023, Pérez will start ahead of Verstappen in a Grand Prix, as the “King of the Streets” qualified fourth, with Verstappen down in sixth.

On the Drivers’ Championship side of things, Verstappen starting sixth — with Norris down in P17 — likely sees the Red Bull driver inch closer to securing another title.

But things are much, much different in the Constructors’ fight.

If, hypothetically, the drivers finish where they start tomorrow what would the standings look like Monday morning?

Red Bull: 466
McLaren: 456
Ferrari: 447

So while Red Bull would gain two points on McLaren, they would see Ferrari pull to within just 19 points of them atop the standings.

Again, a truly mixed bag for Red Bull on Saturday.