Charles Leclerc will be the man to start from pole position in Sunday’s race, not next Saturday’s because his own classification has not yet been held. The Azerbaijan Grand Prix is the setting chosen to experiment with a twist on the sprint format that had already been implemented in some races in recent seasons, turning Friday into a kind of Saturday and Saturday into a mini grand prize. Until Sunday, the big candidate to win is that of Ferrari, a team that, after much bitterness, will finally enjoy a sweet taste in the mouth. At least on the side of a Charles Leclerc who, from a purely statistical point of view, is not going to win the last race: he missed his last two pole positions in Baku. For Carlos Sainz, although he generally cannot be dissatisfied with fourth on the grid, it was not a comfortable qualifying. Two serious scares (one with the wall and the other in the form of a spinning top) made it clear that he is still not completely comfortable behind the wheel of this car, but it did not collide. Although the Ferrari slipped between the Red Bull and Fernando Alonso, it can’t be said that it was a bad day for the Spaniard. If Sainz’s result was somewhat grey, given what has been seen, so was Fernando Alonso’s. Expectations for the Asturian’s position this weekend are very high as Aston Martin has brought new wings to make up for the serious shortfall in top speed on the long 2.2km straight that this treated. The DRS did not go very well. Already in free practice (the only one of the weekend) it was not activated correctly, which was reproduced at the key moment, in the middle of Q3. Alonso, who moved into his natural spot (behind the Red Bulls), had to settle for a paltry sixth place, just behind a Lewis Hamilton with whom he will share the third row of the grid. He can take this result for granted, having for the time being dodged the mechanical issues that were once a nightmare for other teams. From a purely statistical point of view, the Aston Martin had to retire one day and while it’s a relatively minor problem (there’s a margin between now and Sunday’s race), it’s a warning that green cars aren’t unbreakable. Despite this obvious hot canvas, the fact that the car’s first major evolution, the rear wing, fails in one of its critical elements is no cause for a smile, far from it. Two red flags as a warning On a track that pays for mistakes, both own and mechanical, we had to wait more than 45 minutes for the end of the first session. The failures, such as that of Pierre Gasly, whose Alpine quit smoking in morning free practice and caused one of the red flags in this session by hitting the wall, forced the display of two red flags. This caused several drivers to suffer too much to qualify properly as the track situation changed remarkably. The other red flag was carried out by Nyck de Vries, who cannot yet show his potential with the AlphaTauri. While this will be the confirmed grill for Sunday, it has nothing to do with what’s happening on the streets of Baku this Saturday. In fact, for practical purposes, it’s like a grand prize in a grand prize. First a ‘mini-classification’ will be held in a ‘shootout’ format: all drivers will go out for a quick lap as before to form a starting grid which will determine the starting order of the half-hour race that will take place a few hours later. Similar to the previous one, the first eight ads score from 8 to 1 point in descending order. With this bracket, in which the drivers will play their part (or so they say), the drivers will focus on achieving something big this Sunday. That’s when it counts.
Source: La Verdad
I am Shawn Partain, a journalist and content creator working for the Today Times Live. I specialize in sports journalism, writing articles that cover major sporting events and news stories. With a passion for storytelling and an eye for detail, I strive to be accurate and insightful in my work.
