Leclerc flies to win pole position from Red Bull in Baku; Alonzo, 10th

Free practice for the 2022 Formula 1 Azerbaijan Grand Prix had left quite a few doubts in all aspects, both at the front of the standings and in the middle zone, and that was confirmed in the standings.

After a Q1 that had been dominated by Max Verstappen and a Q2 led by Sergio Pérez, it seemed that the Ferraris started with a slight disadvantage, although the differences were minimal. After the first attempt of Q3, Carlos Sainz led the time table with a 1:41.814, ahead of Charles Leclerc and the two Red Bull drivers, with the Mexican ahead.

On the second and final fastest lap of Q3, Sainz made a small mistake and was unable to improve his time, while Leclerc set a 1:41.359 which earned him pole position after a stratospheric lap. Pérez and Verstappen also improved and slipped ahead of the Spanish driver, second and third respectively.

Behind the big favourites, George Russell was first of the rest just over a second off the fastest qualifying time. Behind the Mercedes driver, Pierre Gasly was sixth and Lewis Hamilton seventh.

A little further back, Yuki Tsunoda, Sebastian Vettel and Fernando Alonso completed the top ten positions for the start of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix race.

In Q1 and Q2 the lack of serious accidents was notable, as only Lance Stroll caused the appearance of the red flag after a touch without serious damage and a second much more important accident in turn 2. Of course, Almost no one escaped from the brushes with the wall.

F1 Azerbaijan GP 2022 Qualifying Results

(Click on ‘see results’ to enjoy the entire table)

Cla	Pilot		laps	Weather	Difference	Interval	Km/h
1	Charles Leclerc		6	1’41.359			213.210
two	Sergio Perez		6	1,41,641	0.282	0.282	212,618
3	Max Verstappen		6	1’41.706	0.347	0.065	212.483
4	Carlos Sainz Jr.		6	1,41,814	0.455	0.108	212,257
5	George Russell		6	1’42.712	1.353	0.898	210.401
6	Pierre Gasly		6	1’42,845	1,486	0.133	210.129
7	Lewis Hamilton		6	1’42.924	1.565	0.079	209.968
8	Yuki Tsunoda		6	1’43.056	1.697	0.132	209.699
9	Sebastian Vettel		4	1’43.091	1.732	0.035	209.628
10	Fernando Alonso		6	1’43.173	1.814	0.082	209.461
see results

This was the Q2 of the classification of the Azerbaijan GP 2022 of F1

In the second round of elimination, the Red Bulls were the first single-seaters to take to the track, followed by almost the entire grid, who were waiting in line in the pitlane before the lights turned green.

With the first laps, Verstappen was placed first with a 1:42.227, ahead of Pérez who was only 0.031 seconds behind. The Ferraris, with a used soft tire, managed to improve Red Bull’s times, with Sainz setting the best lap; 1:42.088.

Behind, Gasly was the first of the rest, one second behind the Monegasque, ahead of Russell, Vettel, Alonso, Tusnoda and Norris, who closed the top ten positions that gave access to Q3.

In the middle of the session, when everyone was back in the pits to set up a new set of softs, Vettel made a mistake and hit one of the track protections, although fortunately he did so at a fairly low speed and was able to return to the pits No problem.

Pérez was the first to drop from 1:42 with a time of 1:41.955, while Leclerc improved and was only 0.091 seconds behind, including a brush against one of the Baku walls.

In the last timed laps, several yellow flags appeared on the circuit and that hurt some drivers who could not complete their laps, however, the picture did not change excessively and Norris, Ricciardo, Ocon, Zhou and Bottas were eliminated.

F1 Azerbaijan GP 2022 Qualifying Q2 Results

Cla	Pilot		laps	Weather	Difference	Interval	Km/h
1	Sergio Perez		6	1,41,955			211,964
2	Charles Leclerc		6	1’42.046	0.091	0.091	211.775
3	Carlos Sainz Jr.		6	1’42.088	0.133	0.042	211,687
4	Max Verstappen		6	1’42.227	0.272	0.139	211.400
5	Pierre Gasly		6	1’43.129	1,174	0.902	209,551
6	Lewis Hamilton		7	1’43.182	1.227	0.053	209.443
7	Sebastian Vettel		7	1’43.268	1.313	0.086	209.269
8	George Russell		7	1’43.281	1.326	0.013	209.242
9	Fernando Alonso		6	1’43.360	1.405	0.079	209.082
Ten	Yuki Tsunoda		6	1’43.376	1.421	0.016	209.050
11	Lando Norris		7	1’43.398	1.443	0.022	209.005
12	Daniel Ricciardo		8	1’43.574	1.619	0.176	208.650
13	Esteban Ocon		6	1’43.585	1.630	0.011	208.628
14	Guanyu Zhou		4	1’43.790	1.835	0.205	208.216
15	Valtteri Bottas		4	1’44.444	2.489	0.654	206.912
see results

This was the Q1 of the classification of the Azerbaijan GP 2022 of F1

As soon as the Baku pitlane lights came on, all the drivers took to the track in search of a fast lap on soft tyres. The first to record a time was Norris with a 1:45.061, although he was quickly unseated by, among others, the two Alpine drivers.

Among the favourites, Pérez was the first to complete his lap and placed first, although Verstappen set a record for all three sectors and came first with a 1:42.938, also ahead of the two Ferrari drivers.

After the first attempts, Albon, Norris, Stroll, Latifi and Mick Schumacher were in the danger zone, more than two seconds off the fastest time, set by the Dutch Red Bull driver, who in fact, returned to the pits as soon as he recorded your chrono in the time table.

In the middle zone, the positions were constantly changing, while at the top of the classification, Sainz was placed second with a 1:42.957 and, a few seconds later, Leclerc moved up to first place with a 1:42.865.

Verstappen and Pérez did the same and rose to the first two positions, with the Dutchman setting a 1:42.722. While they were fighting for the lead, the rest of the drivers returned to the pits to mount a new set of softs and look for their last attempts in Q1.

At the time, Albon, Bottas, Latifi, Stroll and Mick were the ones in the most rush to improve their times, as they were in the elimination zone.

With 2:30 to go in Q1, Stroll was the protagonist when he overbraked and hit the protections, fortunately, the incident was at low speed and he was able to continue, but on the next lap he made a mistake again into turn 2 and ended up damaging the front of the car, causing the red flag.

With four minutes to go until the traffic lights came back on, the vast majority of cars were already in the pitlane waiting for the moment to take to the track, since with two minutes and 30 seconds to go, only a few were going to be able to start a quick turn.

In that last lap and with all the cars very tight, practically nobody could improve their lap, except for Valtteri Bottas, who came out of the elimination zone and put Kevin Magussen’s Haas, who was accompanied by Alex Albon, Nicholas Latifi, Lance Stroll and Mick Schumcher in the last five places.

F1 Azerbaijan GP 2022 Qualifying Q1 Results

Cla	Pilot		laps	Weather	Difference	Interval	Km/h
1	Max Verstappen		7	1’42.722			210.381
two	Sergio Perez		6	1,42,733	0.011	0.011	210,358
3	Charles Leclerc		7	1’42.865	0.143	0.132	210.088
4	Carlos Sainz Jr.		7	1,42,957	0.235	0.092	209,901
5	Pierre Gasly		11	1’43,268	0.546	0.311	209,269
6	Sebastian Vettel		7	1’43.279	0.557	0.011	209.246
7	Yuki Tsunoda		Ten	1’43.595	0.873	0.316	208.608
8	George Russell		10	1’43.754	1.032	0.159	208.288
9	Guanyu Zhou		9	1’43.777	1.055	0.023	208.242
10	Esteban Ocon		7	1’43.903	1.181	0.126	207.990
11	Lewis Hamilton		9	1’43.939	1.217	0.036	207.918
12	Fernando Alonso		8	1’44.083	1.361	0.144	207.630
13	Lando Norris		9	1’44.237	1.515	0.154	207.323
14	Daniel Ricciardo		9	1’44.437	1.715	0.200	206.926
15	Valtteri Bottas		9	1’44.478	1.756	0.041	206.845
16	Kevin Magnussen		9	1’44.643	1.921	0.165	206.519
17	Alexander Albon		9	1’44.719	1.997	0.076	206.369
18	Nicholas Latifi		8	1’45.367	2.645	0.648	205.100
19	Lance Stroll		7	1’45.371	2.649	0.004	205.092
20	Mick Schumacher		9	1’45.775	3.053	0.404	204.309
see results