F1, Charles Leclerc admits mistake that ended his pole streak in Baku
Ferrari’s record of consecutive pole positions in Baku came to an end, with Charles Leclerc explaining the mistake that shaped both his qualifying and his race. The weekend in Azerbaijan turned out to be well below expectations for both the Monegasque and Ferrari. After a disastrous qualifying session that left Lewis Hamilton in P12 and Charles Leclerc only tenth, the Scuderia closed the race weekend with a disappointing result and controversy surrounding a rumored team order swap that never happened.
Leclerc arrived in Baku holding a record of four consecutive pole positions at the circuit. Reflecting on what went wrong, the Monegasque admitted he made an error in judgment. A change in setup compromised his entire race weekend. The number 16 driver is convinced, however, that this mistake will not happen again.
“I changed my approach in terms of setup,” he told the media after the race. “Considering how strong I had been here in the past, I thought it was a good idea. But then I kind of lost the rhythm in qualifying.”
In Q3, Charles Leclerc hit the wall with seven minutes remaining in the session. That incident left him stuck in tenth position, with no chance of going for a final flying lap.
“I went back to the point where I felt I had a better feeling in qualifying. But that was exactly when the mistake happened. I couldn’t make it work. So overall, it was a really chaotic weekend, and I will put it behind me to make sure I don’t repeat the same error again,” Charles Leclerc admitted.
As if the weekend had not been difficult enough, Charles Leclerc’s journey home also became complicated by an unexpected incident. He and teammate Carlos Sainz, traveling on the same flight, were forced into a diversion. The episode was captured on video and quickly went viral across social media.
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