Charles Leclerc claimed his fourth consecutive pole position at the Baku City Circuit, underlining his credentials as a master of the high-speed street track.
But his performance isn’t the only reason why Ferrari are in such good shape at the track. After all, Oscar Piastri was the only driver from either of Ferrari’s rival teams to beat a Ferrari, though you have to suspect Lando Norris would have done the same in the other McLaren had it not been for his Q1 misfortune.It’s doubtful either would have beaten Leclerc, however. Even if Piastri had strung his three best sector times together on a single lap he still would have been almost two tenths of a second off the Ferrari.
Leclerc was on it from the word go in Baku, and shrugged off his first practice crash with total assuredness. “The car felt really good since FP1,” he said after taking pole position. “Honestly, we barely changed the car from FP1 to now.”
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However the true potential of the SF-24 in its latest guise may not become clear for a few more races. This is the third time this year Ferrari had the outright fastest car. The previous occasion was in Monaco, another track characterised by low grip and low-speed corners. Singapore, the next venue on the calendar, is more of the same.
One strange detail of this weekend’s race is the cars are on average slower than they were last year. Leclerc was a full second off his 2023 pole position time. No team lapped quicker than they did at this track a year ago.
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The cause of this appears to be the decision not to pressure-wash the track surface, as was done in previous years. As a result the track conditions have improved significantly from session to session. “We had to counter a little bit the track evolution because there’s a lot of track evolution here,” Leclerc acknowledged.
Williams also underlined the improvements they have made with their latest upgrade as both their drivers reached Q3. Indeed, they might well have beaten Aston Martin to fifth-fastest team, equalling their best performance of the season. But a blunder with a cooler on Alexander Albon’s car prevented him from doing a flying lap on new tyres at the end, and Fernando Alonso benefited from a tow on the straight to set the fastest final sector time of qualifying.
Sector times
| P. | # | Driver | S1 | S2 | S3 | Ultimate lap (deficit) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 16 | Charles Leclerc | 35.702 (2) | 40.813 (1) | 24.825 (10) | 1’41.340 (+0.025) |
| 2 | 81 | Oscar Piastri | 35.782 (4) | 40.972 (2) | 24.803 (6) | 1’41.557 (+0.129) |
| 3 | 11 | Sergio Perez | 35.649 (1) | 41.043 (4) | 24.966 (17) | 1’41.658 (+0.155) |
| 4 | 1 | Max Verstappen | 35.897 (5) | 41.014 (3) | 24.781 (5) | 1’41.692 (+0.331) |
| 5 | 63 | George Russell | 36.045 (7) | 41.052 (5) | 24.602 (2) | 1’41.699 (+0.175) |
| 6 | 55 | Carlos Sainz Jnr | 35.716 (3) | 41.138 (6) | 24.908 (15) | 1’41.762 (+0.043) |
| 7 | 14 | Fernando Alonso | 36.064 (8) | 41.611 (12) | 24.524 (1) | 1’42.199 (+0.170) |
| 8 | 44 | Lewis Hamilton | 36.174 (10) | 41.407 (9) | 24.651 (3) | 1’42.232 (+0.057) |
| 9 | 43 | Franco Colapinto | 36.158 (9) | 41.403 (8) | 24.766 (4) | 1’42.327 (+0.146) |
| 10 | 23 | Alexander Albon | 36.338 (13) | 41.353 (7) | 24.831 (11) | 1’42.522 (+0.318) |
| 11 | 50 | Oliver Bearman | 36.032 (6) | 41.689 (14) | 24.978 (19) | 1’42.699 (+0.269) |
| 12 | 4 | Lando Norris | 36.397 (14) | 41.568 (10) | 24.803 (6) | 1’42.768 (+0.841) |
| 13 | 22 | Yuki Tsunoda | 36.51 (17) | 41.578 (11) | 24.818 (8) | 1’42.906 (+0.129) |
| 14 | 10 | Pierre Gasly | 36.266 (11) | 41.823 (16) | 24.89 (13) | 1’42.979 (+0.109) |
| 15 | 27 | Nico Hulkenberg | 36.337 (12) | 41.822 (15) | 24.849 (12) | 1’43.008 (+0.093) |
| 16 | 18 | Lance Stroll | 36.487 (16) | 41.892 (17) | 24.899 (14) | 1’43.278 (+0.092) |
| 17 | 3 | Daniel Ricciardo | 36.854 (19) | 41.617 (13) | 24.961 (16) | 1’43.432 (+0.115) |
| 18 | 77 | Valtteri Bottas | 36.474 (15) | 42.32 (19) | 24.824 (9) | 1’43.618 |
| 19 | 24 | Zhou Guanyu | 36.851 (18) | 42.428 (20) | 24.967 (18) | 1’44.246 |
| 20 | 31 | Esteban Ocon | 36.916 (20) | 42.214 (18) | 25.174 (20) | 1’44.304 (+0.200) |
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2024 Azerbaijan Grand Prix
- Verstappen: “Important” for FIA to clarify legality of McLaren’s ‘mini DRS’ wing
- Hamilton explains suspension set-up change behind “miserable” Baku weekend
- Piastri needs “crazy” results to become title contender despite Baku win
- FIA taking new look at flexing bodywork amid intrigue over McLaren’s rear wing
- Norris knew Verstappen broke VSC rules in Baku because he did the same in Melbourne
Tifoso1989 (@tifoso1989)
14th September 2024, 21:43
I fully expected Ferrari to take pole in Baku because the circuit combines the characteristics of both Monza and Monaco and Leclerc is a Baku specialist. Singapore also shares similarities with Monaco, and it’s another track where Ferrari should perform well. The key turning point for Ferrari this season was the win at Monza, which dramatically boosted the team’s morale. If they manage to capitalize on this by scoring two 1-2 finishes (I’m quite optimistic) or at least two wins for Leclerc and a 3rd place for Sainz, they’ll keep building momentum, and putting pressure on their rivals, particularly McLaren.
McLaren currently has the best overall package at this point of the season. They are my favorites to win the WCC, judging only by their car’s performance. However, McLaren seems to lack the winning mentality, whereas Red Bull and Verstappen are seasoned veterans in these championship battles. That’s why I think McLaren, might still gift the competition easy wins. The more pressure they’re under, the more likely they’ll crumble.
I expect Ferrari to face issues post-Singapore. Their main weakness, high-speed bouncing, will likely resurface, especially on faster circuits. The rumors suggest that Ferrari will address this for next year with a major change to their suspension setup, moving to a new front pull-rod, rear push-rod geometry, which could permanently solve this issue. If that happens, Ferrari could become a much more consistent threat moving forward.
Jere (@jerejj)
15th September 2024, 4:20
The lack of pressure wash shows as even 2022 pole lap is faster despite 2024 being outright faster everywhere else, although both 2016 & 2018 are slower, so at least something.
Sumedh
15th September 2024, 4:20
That ultimate lap deficit is very interesting to see. Leclerc, Sainz, Zhou, Bottas absolutely maximizing their fastest laps. Sainz benefitting the most due to that, up 3 places from 6th.
Verstappen is has left the 2nd most time on the table. He is clearly facing issues of his own on top of his slower car.
But luckily for him, the driver who has left the most time on the table is his nearest rival – Norris