Charles Leclerc will start first in Azerbaijan GP Sprint despite crashing in F1's first Sprint Shootout; Sergio Perez beats Red Bull team-mate Max Verstappen to second; watch the Azerbaijan GP Sprint live on Sky Sports F1 from 1:30pm on Saturday
Saturday 29 April 2023 14:24, UK
Ferrari's Charles Leclerc completed an Azerbaijan Grand Prix pole double by topping Formula 1's first Sprint Shootout despite crashing on his final flying lap.
Having topped the Friday Qualifying that set the grid for Sunday's race, Leclerc ensured he will also start Saturday's Sprint, which is live on Sky Sports F1 at 2:30pm, from the front by once again outpacing both Red Bulls, with Sergio Perez this time beating team-mate Max Verstappen to second.
The new Sprint weekend format, which is debuting at the Baku City Circuit, delivered a frenetic finale as the shortened eight-minute final part of the session saw the contenders attempt to complete two laps on the same set of tyres.
After going top of the timesheet with his first run, Leclerc crashed into the barrier at Turn 5 on his second attempt. As he was behind the Red Bulls on track, they both had the opportunity to improve on his 1:41.697 but failed to do so.
"I don't think there's that much damage, only the front wing," Leclerc said. "But we will check absolutely everything to make sure there are no troubles for the start of the race. But it wasn't too big of a crash."
George Russell produced a brilliant lap to bounce back from a surprise Q2 exit on Friday and take fourth ahead of Ferrari's Carlos Sainz, who was unfortunate in being the only car held up by Leclerc's crash but continues to be well off the pace of his team-mate.
Lewis Hamilton will start the Sprint from sixth, with Alex Albon taking an impressive seventh for Williams, ahead of Aston Martin duo Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll, who were both hampered by a DRS issue.
Lando Norris, who was unable to participate in the final part of the Sprint Shootout having left himself without the required mandatory new set of soft tyres required, rounded out the top 10 for McLaren.
Alpine's miserable weekend continued as Pierre Gasly was knocked out in SQ1 after suffering a suspected exhaust leak, before team-mate Esteban Ocon, who finished 13th, was consigned to pit lane starts in both the Sprint and Sunday's race after the team chose to take his car out of parc ferme following the session.
Leclerc's double represents a stunning upturn in performance for Ferrari, whose pre-season championship aspirations appeared to have been shattered as Red Bull dominated the first three races of the campaign before the four-week break that followed the Australian Grand Prix.
All eyes will now be on Saturday's Sprint and Sunday's race to see if Leclerc can continue to compete with the Red Bulls over a longer distance, where the constructors' champions have been even stronger than over one lap.
Verstappen goes into the Sprint with a 15-point world championship lead over team-mate Perez, while Leclerc is 63 points back from the Dutchman after retiring in two of the first three races.
Azerbaijan GP Sprint Shootout Result
1) Charles Leclerc, Ferrari
2) Sergio Perez, Red Bull
3) Max Verstappen, Red Bull
4) George Russell, Mercedes
5) Carlos Sainz, Ferrari
6) Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes
7) Alexander Albon, Williams
8) Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin
9) Lance Stroll, Aston Martin
10) Lando Norris, McLaren
There had been much discussion ahead of F1's first Sprint Shootout as to whether the additional qualifying session would provide the entertainment it is designed to do, and its debut was undoubtedly a major success.
Doubt over whether drivers would push in Saturday's Sprint events, in which significantly less points are available than Sunday's full-length contest, were quickly dispelled as Williams' Logan Sargeant crashed out in SQ1, while several other drivers escaped near misses.
Sargeant's crash brought a premature end to the first part of the Sprint Shootout, which differs to traditional Qualifying by having shorter segments and requiring drivers to use one set of new tyres (mediums in SQ1 and SQ2, and softs in SQ3) for the duration of each part.
Yuki Tsunoda, who like Norris had used up all of his soft tyres on Friday as he took an impressive eighth, was left infuriated as the red flag drawn by Sargeant's crash forced him to abort a flying lap that looked set to take him into SQ2.
The quirks of the new rules, which are expected to be updated before the next Sprint weekend in Austria from June 30-July 2, saw Norris pip his team-mate Oscar Piastri to 10th in a result McLaren would have wished they could reverse.
Norris was consigned to a 10th place start in the Sprint, whereas Piastri, who still had new soft tyres available, could have fought for a higher position on the Sprint grid.
As had been the case in Friday's Qualifying, Leclerc traded quick times with the Red Bulls throughout the session, before once more pushing himself clear in its final part.
The first runs on the new soft tyres were always likely to be pivotal, with performance unlikely to be maintained on a second flying lap.
That theory was proven in dramatic style by Leclerc, who lost control at Turn 5 and found the barrier, but the Red Bulls couldn't take advantage as they were unable to find any further performance.
"Everything was going quite well," Verstappen said. "I think the pace was good but first lap in SQ3 I had a big moment in five and six and then the tyres are really hot and I had a moment in seven.
"On the big lap with the most grip we had a terrible sector two so that was not fantastic."
The only driver to significantly improve on the second run was Russell, who put aside the disappointment of having qualified 11th for Sunday's race to move ahead of Sainz and his Mercedes team-mate Hamilton.
The key to Leclerc turning Sprint pole into a win later on Saturday may prove to be whether he can pull a second clear of the Red Bulls, who after the first circuit of the 17-lap contest will be able to deploy their field-leading DRS, which could make overtaking the Ferrari very simple.
"We have seen Red Bull's DRS power," Leclerc said. "It will be a big challenge with the DRS activating after one lap in the Sprint. I will have pressure from behind but I will try and make the difference in the second sector.
"It's all about risk management and I will try and do the best job possible. For the race I know where the limit is and hopefully I will stay as close to it as possible without overstepping."
After a thrilling debut for the Sprint Shootout, the drivers now have a couple of hours to prepare for the first Sprint of the 2023 season.
The format of the 100km dash, which is just under a third of the 305km minimum required distance for a full F1 race, is unchanged from 2022.
Drivers have the opportunity to go flat out throughout, with no requirement to use multiple tyre compounds, as is the case in Sunday's Grand Prix.
Eight points are on offer for the winner, with that award descending by one point for each of the top eight finishers.
The main difference to Sprints this year is that they no longer set the grid for Sunday, which they have done since being introduced to the sport in 2021.
However, the new rules have clarified that any grid penalties incurred during the Sprint will be applied to Sunday's race.
