Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc will start first at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix

FútbolUy. Follows on Twitter @footballportaluy

Monegasque Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) will start first on Sunday at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, the fourth of the Formula One World Cup, which takes place on the urban circuit of Baku, the country’s capital. He will start ahead of the Red Bulls of the Dutchman Max Verstappen, leader of the World Cup and who aspires to achieve a third title in a row, and the Mexican Sergio Czech Pérez.

Leclerc signed the nineteenth pole since he has run in F1 – the third in a row in Azerbaijan and the first of the season – by dominating qualifying this Friday. He covered the 6,003 meters of the track in the Azerbaijani capital in one minute, 40 seconds and 203 thousandths, 188 less than Verstappen and 292 ahead of Checo.

Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) was fifth in qualifying for the fourth round of the year. The Spaniards Carlos Sainz (Ferrari) and Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) will start fourth and sixth, respectively, in the Sunday race, scheduled for 51 laps, to complete a 306-kilometre route.

Englishman Lando Norris (McLaren) -seventh- and Japanese Yuki Tsunoda (Alpha Tauri) will start from the fourth row. Starting fifth, Canadian Lance Stroll and Australian rookie Oscar Piastri (McLaren) will do so, who finished the main timed session in a creditable tenth place.

This Saturday the first of the six sprint tests of the season will be held -which does not influence the starting formation of Sunday’s race-, hours after the (reduced) qualifying that will define the grid for it. The reduced race will be held over a third of the Sunday route, that is: 17 laps, for a route of just over one hundred kilometers.

FútbolUy. Follows on Twitter @footballportaluy