While setting the fastest time in SQ3, the Ferrari driver damaged his front wing after crashing at Turn 5.
Following his crash during the Azerbaijan Grand Prix Sprint Shootout, Charles Leclerc revealed that it was caused by pushing on overheating tires. Despite the mistake, Leclerc managed to secure pole position for the 100km sprint with a time of 1:41.697, 0.153 seconds faster than second-placed Sergio Perez.
This result also means that Leclerc will start from the front for both the sprint and grand prix, earning his 19th career pole position on Friday. However, there were concerns after Leclerc lost control of his Ferrari at Turn 5 on his final run of SQ3, hitting the barriers head-on after correcting the slide.
Fortunately, the Monegasque was able to return to the pits with only damage to his front wing.
“With the soft it was a little bit tricky because you get to SQ3 and we haven’t driven on these tyres since yesterday, it is not a long time ago but the conditions are different so it was behaving much differently,”
‘The rear overheated on the second lap, I tried to push a bit more to gain some lap time as I was behind my first best lap time and I lost it in Turn 5.”
“In the end it doesn’t have any consequence on qualifying – I don’t know about Carlos behind me, it is a shame if he was improving.
“Happy with the first lap and now we have to confirm that in the race.”
