Charles Leclerc produced a stunning lap late in qualifying to pip Sergio Perez to pole position in Baku ahead of the Azerbaijan GP.
Leclerc set the ultimate benchmark of 1m 41.359s, going just over two-tenths faster than Sergio Perez in a nailbiting Q3 session.
Perez and Leclerc had both topped the time sheets of practice sessions before qualifying began.
Leclerc’s pole position in Baku is the 6th time he finds himself at the front of the pack.
Carlos Sainz held the provisional pole but could not hook up his final effort and ended up fourth behind the championship leader Max Verstappen in third.
George Russell rounded out the top five for Mercedes, Pierre Gasly sharing the third row with him with a solid showing for AlphaTauri.
Lewis Hamilton took seventh, enduring another frustrating afternoon, and will share row four with AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda.
Sebastian Vettel took P9 for Aston Martin with Alpine’s Fernando Alonso rounding out the top 10
McLarens and Alfa Romeos could not make it past Q2 with Lando Norris 11th and Daniel Ricciardo 12th; Zhou Guanyu 14th and Valtteri Bottas 15th. Between those orange and red pairs was Esteban Ocon for the Alpine.
Haas’s Kevin Magnussen was left in Q1, taking a provisional P16 on the grid, Williams drivers Alex Albon 17th and Nicholas Latifi 18th.
Aston Martin driver Lance Stroll crashed out of Q1 and will start a provisional P19 on the grid ahead of Haas’s Mick Schumacher, 20th.
