Charles Leclerc doesn’t have “magic answer” for Baku F1 pole record

Charles Leclerc says he does not have the “magic answer” to explain his impressive F1 pole position record at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.

The Ferrari driver took a comfortable pole in Baku for the fourth year in a row, qualifying 0.321 seconds quicker than McLaren’s Oscar Piastri, who denied Carlos Sainz a spot on the front row alongside his teammate.

Asked by Crash.net if his latest pole in Baku was his best yet, Leclerc replied: “No it’s not the best.

“I think the 2021 one was probably the best as we were in a very, very difficult year. I think we were fighting for P9 and P10 in that championship and to be on pole here was very special.

“However, it was a really good lap. Again, for some reason there is not much scatter between my laps on this track. It looks like I’m very consistent but I don’t really have the magic answer. I just like the rhythm of this track.

“Every lap I was doing was quite competitive from Q1 and the balance was feeling really good. The lap was really good, but it’s also very difficult to compare it to different years.”

It marks Leclerc’s third pole of the season and the 26th of his career.

Despite claiming pole on four previous occasions in Baku, the Monegasque is yet to convert it into the win around the street circuit.

“It would be nice [to finally win],” Leclerc acknowledged. “In 2021 and 2023 it was quite unexpected the pole positions. We didn’t have the pace in the car to win.

“In 2022 we had a good car and then the engine blew up, so hopefully the pace is there and we don’t have anything which stops us from winning it.

“But before thinking about the final result there are still a lot of laps around this track and it’s a very difficult track. So we will see tomorrow.

“In the meantime I will just make sure that I am doing the best preparation possible.”

Leclerc insisted that he is “not worried” about the race pace of his Ferrari, despite failing to complete a long run on Friday after a crash in first practice.

“I didn’t do a lap with high fuel but it’s been a pretty strong point of the car this year, so I’m not worried going into tomorrow’s race,” he said.

“But obviously we need to get things right so I will need to do a bit of homework tonight in order to get ready for tomorrow. But I am not too worried. We will do the best job with our package and then we will see if it’s good enough to win the race or not.”