BAKU, Azerbaijan — Charles Leclerc doubled down on his pole place in Friday qualifying on the Azerbaijan Grand Prix as he additionally took pole within the inaugural dash shootout session on Saturday, which can set the grid for the dash race later the identical day.

Leclerc secured pole regardless of crashing at Flip 5 on his last try and can line up forward of the 2 Pink Bulls of Sergio Perez and Max Verstappen. Verstappen, who certified forward of his Pink Bull teammate Perez on Friday, appeared to wrestle for rear grip all through the ultimate session of the shootout.

George Russell took fourth place for Mercedes — an enormous enchancment on his eleventh place in Friday qualifying — as Carlos Sainz in fifth place was unable to finish his last lap in Q3 because of the yellow flags that got here out for Leclerc’s accident.

Underneath F1’s new dash race format, which is debuting in Baku this weekend, Saturday is basically its personal mini occasion inside the grand prix weekend. The dash shootout units the grid for the dash race which, in contrast to the earlier format, has no bearing on the beginning order for Sunday’s grand prix.

The highest eight drivers will rating championship factors within the 17-lap dash in a while Saturday, with the highest eight drivers scoring in descending order 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1.

Lewis Hamilton will begin sixth within the dash race forward of a powerful efficiency by Alex Albon, who hauled his Williams as much as seventh on the grid.

The 2 Aston Martins of Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll had been eighth and ninth, forward of Lando Norris who was unable to participate in last session of the dash shootout as a result of he used all his gentle tyres, that are necessary for Q3 within the shootout, throughout Friday qualifying.

Norris’ McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri missed out on a spot in Q3 by 0.032s and can begin the dash in eleventh forward of the Haas of Nico Hulkenberg in twelfth.

Esteban Ocon was thirteenth quickest forward of the second Haas of Kevin Magnussen, with Logan Sargeant qualifying fifteenth after making the reduce for Q2 regardless of crashing out of Q1 on his last try. The American rookie hit the obstacles arduous on the exit of Flip 15, inflicting large harm to the rear of his automobile that can should be fastened within the four-hour break forward of the dash race.

A late purple flag for Sargeant’s accident in Q1 meant the underside 5 in that session didn’t get an opportunity to finish their last makes an attempt, leaving Zhou Guanyu, Valtteri Bottas, Yuki Tsunoda, Pierre Gasly and Nyck de Vries in the back of the grid for the dash race.

Gasly, who had a nightmare Friday together with his automobile catching hearth in free apply and a crash in qualifying, solely accomplished three laps earlier than returning to the pits with a suspected exhaust leak.