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Charles Leclerc congratulated Max Verstappen following the Red Bull racer securing pole at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix qualifying. Verstappen delivered a stunning lap to secure his first-ever pole at the Baku city circuit, while Leclerc ended up on the barrier.
In Q3 of the qualifying, Verstappen clocked 1:41.117 on the timesheet, and was nearly five-tenth quicker than Carlos Sainz, the racer in P2. As a result, he set P1 for him on Saturday.
As the four-time world champion secured pole, he was congratulated by Leclerc, the star pole sitter at the track. The Monegasque racer has been pole on four past occasions, from 2021 to 2024.
Leclerc went to shake hands with Verstappen, Liam Lawson and Carlos Sainz as the three drivers took their positions in the top three on Saturday. Here is the video clip shared by Red Bull Racing on Instagram, where Leclerc congratulated Verstappen after the latter's pole:
Saturday's qualifying at the Baku City was full of chaos, as six red flags were called during three sessions. Multiple racers, such as Alex Albon, Nico Hulkenberg, Oscar Piastri, and Charles Leclerc, among many others, lost control of their cars and hit the barriers.
Following six red flags, Verstappen secured the pole ahead of Sainz. Liam Lawson pulled off a stunning P3, ahead of Kimi Antonelli. Antonelli's teammate, George Russell, qualified in P5, ahead of Red Bull's Yuki Tsunoda.
Lando Norris brushed off the wall in his final flying lap and ended up in P7, while Isack Hadjar claimed P8. Oscar Piastri and Charles Leclerc both crashed in Q3, and had to be satisfied with P9 and P10, respectively.
Charles Leclerc expresses his feelings after crashing out of qualifying
Charles Leclerc's Azerbaijan GP qualifying ended up on a disappointing note following the Ferrari racer crashing out in Q3. Going for his flying lap in the final qualifying, the Monegasque racer locked up and hit the barrier. With this, his run in Q3 ended.
Following the session ended Leclerc shared his thoughts as he spoke about the incidents to Sky Sports F1. Here is what he said:
"I have struggled massively throughout the weekend which is not the case before in Baku. Changed massively for Qualifying and the feeling got better but as soon as we have put Mediums it was very very difficult to put the tyres into the right temperatures."
As of now, Leclerc is in P5 in the Drivers' CHampionship with 163 points after 16 races and three sprints. His teammate, Lewis Hamilton, is in P6 with 117 points.
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