The Ferrari is back with a bang in the streets of Baku, but their driver, Carlos Sainz is still struggling. While his teammate Charles Leclerc claimed the pole with ease, Sainz seemed clueless and managed a P4 with great effort. He tended to make a lot of mistakes and lost even more ‘confidence in the car’. “As a result, I am not satisfied with today,” he said. 

However, he congratulated his teammate for taking P1 and thinks the recent changes to the car have worked. He believes Ferrari can even challenge Red Bull in the race with the current improvements. But since Sainz is not feeling comfortable on the track, he hopes the Baku expert Charles Leclerc would hold the Red Bulls back for him to get in the fight. 

“Charles [Leclerc] always tends to do good laps and he’s especially good here. Congratulations to him,” Sainz said. He further said, as quoted by Motorsport.com, “I think Red Bull will definitely be fast. I hope Charles can keep holding them back and I hope I can be in the fight. For the first time this year we’ll see if we can get them into trouble.” 

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However, this is not Leclerc’s first, but third Baku pole in a row. He came so close to winning the Azerbaijan Grand Prix twice but failed to capitalize on his strong qualifying performance both times. Once it was because of engine failure, and the other time he went into the wall and damaged his car. 

Will Charles Leclerc win the 2023 Azerbaijan Grand Prix? 

After a frustrating start to the 2023 Formula 1 season, the Monegasque finally had a moment to savor. How much it meant to him became clear as he climbed from his car after taking the pole and pointed to the prancing horse logo on his chest. Last year’s championship contenders finally got the results they were hoping for. But what follows in the finale will reveal the Scuderia team’s future.

Leclerc became the first non-Red Bull driver to claim the pole for a Grand Prix after he pipped Max Verstappen by 0.188 seconds in a sensational performance. While crossing the chequered flag, an ecstatic Leclerc on the team radio said: “Ah, yes! Car was so good!”. It then became clear that the Maranello team had delivered. And now, it’s time for their star boy to show his potential in the final race. Will the Italian driver reverse his fortune in Baku this time? It’s hard to tell! Because it’s super easy to make mistakes on the Baku circuit, and Charles usually makes many. 

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Or Maybe this time Charles will get lucky. After all, the third time’s a charm!