Formula 1 World Cup | Alonso and Sainz will start sixth and fourth at the Azerbaijan GP

Leclerc, 25, signed his first ‘pole’ of the season, the nineteenth since he has run in F1 and the third (followed) in Azerbaijan. The pilot of the Mediterranean principality dominated qualifying this Friday; in which he covered, in the best lap of the decisive third round (Q3) the 6,003 meters of the track in the Azerbaijani capital in one minute, 40 seconds and 203 thousandths, 188 less than Verstappen and with a 292 advantage over ‘Czech’ .

Converted almost into the ‘eternal great promise’, the Côte d’Azur pilot recovered his smile on the shores of the Caspian Sea. A year ago, at this point, he was leading a championship that began to go wrong at the Spanish Grand Prix, in Montmeló (Barcelona). A circuit in which Verstappen began his crushing journey towards his second crown in the premier class; and that the first weekend of next June it will be filled to bursting again. With a large part of the public ready to cheer on the Spaniards, the man from Madrid Carlos Sainz (Ferrari) and the Asturian double world champion Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin), that on Sunday they will start fourth and sixthrespectively.

After the first three races of the course, in which, not without bad luckhas only added six points -and is tenth in the contest-, Sainz’s partner managed, at least, to inhale a good dose of morale with which to face a championship of 23 tests, which still has practically everything to play before closing, in November, in Abu Dhabi.

Leclerc perfectly withstood the double world champion from the Netherlands and ended up relegating him to second place, by dominating qualifying. Sainz -who was eight tenths behind his first partner in F1- and Alonso -just over a second behind ‘Mad Max’ will start fourth and sixth, respectively, in the Sunday race, scheduled for 51 laps, to complete a 306 kilometer journey. In the first of the six Grand Prix of the year that takes place with the recently launched sprint format: which will be applied again in those of Austria, Belgium, Qatar, the United States and Brazil.

‘Czech’ -second in the World Cup, fifteen points behind the 69 with which Verstappen leads– is the most successful driver in the six editions in which Baku hosted a World Cup event (the first, as the European Grand Prix; and the following, with the name of the country). Take a victory and three other podiums -among them last year, when he was second, behind his teammate- and he will aim high on Sunday from third place on the grid.

The brave driver from Guadalajara (Jalisco) will start from the second row next to Sainz -fifth in the World Cup, with 20 points-, who completed the second slice of the sandwich that Ferrari made with Red Bull this Friday in the capital of the former Soviet republic; and that he is anxious, like his Monegasque colleague, to return to place the most successful team of all time in the place that, due to his history, belongs to it.

The great Asturian driver -third in the championship, with 45 points, after getting on the podium three times in his first three races with Aston Martin, meanwhile raising his list of ‘drawers’ to 102 in the motorsport honor division-, will start on Sunday from the third row. He will do so alongside the seven-time English champion Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes), fifth in qualifying for the fourth round of the year.

Between Fernando -the oldest on the grid- and ‘Sir’ Lewis, the second oldest, add up to no less than 79 years of wisdom and talent, that promise new duels -thanks to the performance of the surprising Aston Martin-, such as those experienced this year in Bahrain and in Australia: site of the previous race, almost four weeks ago.

But before the ‘normal’ race on Sunday, the day remains this Saturday. Independent. and that also announces strong emotions.

The sprint – unlike the two previous years, since it was established – no longer decides the grid on Sunday. But awards points. Points that can decide championships.

Namely: eight for the first, seven will add the second y six will score the third; and so on, up to the eighth, which will add one to your ledger.

Hours before, there will be, also for the first time in the history of F1, another qualification. Reduced, too. In which, unlike this Friday, Q1 will last twelve minutes -instead of 18-; Q2 will be ten -instead of fifteen- and Q3 will be eight -instead of twelve-.