At the Baku City Circuit, Scuderia Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc was able to once again produced yet another of his amazing qualifying laps. The Monegasque secured another pole position, the sixth of the 2022 Formula 1 season from eight events, which takes him to a total of 15 poles, which puts him equal third with Felipe Massa on the all-time Ferrari list.
Charles Leclerc also become the first F1 driver to be quickest in qualifying at the tricky Azerbaijan track for a second time. It was Scuderia Ferrari’s third pole position in Azerbaijan and its 236th in total. Carlos Sainz will start from P4 tomorrow, behind the Red Bull cars of Sergio Perez and Max Verstappen.
Laurent Mekies, Ferrari Racing Director, shares his thoughts on the outcome of the qualifying session in Baku:
“It was a very closely contested qualifying. We’re now getting used to Charles producing an incredible lap in Q3 and today, on his last run, we saw once again how he can always get a little something extra out of himself and his car. Carlos also had a very good qualifying and in fact after the first run in Q3 he was quickest. At all tracks, it’s important to always be able to count on having both drivers at the front and here, we can expect a very tactical race, so having Carlos right up there with the Red Bulls means we can fight them on equal terms.” – the Ferrari Racing Director explained, as reported by the Maranello team’s official website after qualifying in Azerbaijan.
“Now, we are preparing for the race, along with our colleagues back in Maranello. We know that, in race trim, our closest rivals are quicker than in qualifying and maybe they have the edge over us when it comes to straight line speed. However, given what we have seen so far this weekend, I think the smallest detail can make the difference in the race, with many factors coming into play. The first of these is tyre management and as we can expect very hot conditions, race pace will be key.” – Laurent Mekies concluded.
