Charles Leclerc breaks Red Bull dominance with pole in AzerbaijanBy Philip Duncan, PA F1 Correspondent, BakuCharles Leclerc saw off Max Verstappen to put his Ferrari on pole position for Sunday’s Azerbaijan Grand Prix. Verstappen and Leclerc set identical times in their opening Q3 laps in Baku before the Monegasque returned for a final run to beat his Red Bull rival by 0.188 seconds. Sergio Perez qualified third ahead of Leclerc’s Ferrari team-mate Carlos Sainz with Lewis Hamilton fifth, 0.974 sec off the pace. The sport’s chiefs hope the revamp will enliven the weekend and Leclerc’s pole here is the first non-Red Bull pole of a campaign the world champions have dominated. Out came the red flag, and a 17-minute barrier repair job followed as De Vries’ written-off AlphaTauri was winched away.

Source: Irish Independent April 29, 2023 06:49 UTC