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Charles Leclerc starts on pole for the 2022 Azerbaijan Grand Prix ahead of the Red Bull duo Sergio Perez and Max Verstappen. The Ferrari driver fronts the grid for the fourth successive race start but has failed to win any of the last three races before this; a run he will desperately hope to end here. Victory would see him narrow the nine-point gap to championship leader Verstappen.
Leclerc does not currently have the benefit of tactical support from Carlos Sainz who is down in P4, unless the Spaniard can get off to a good start and wedge himself between the two Red Bulls. Mercedes are meanwhile are well off the pace outside the Ferrari-Red Bull battle with fifth-placed George Russell over a second slower than Leclerc in qualifying.
Lewis Hamilton starts P7 after no further action was taken by stewards following an investigation into an incident with the McLaren of Lando Norris. But the seven-time world champion was over a second-and-a-half behind pole-sitter Leclerc with the Silver Arrows, who are struggling with porpoising on the long straights of the Baku street circuit, relying on mistakes or misfortune ahead of them to be able to fight for a podium.
And so the focus will mainly be on the battle between Drivers’ Championship and Constructors’ Championship protagonists Red Bull and Ferrari, with the latter top of both standings as they seek a first double title triumph since 2013. Verstappen’s team-mate Perez has very much entered the driver’s title fray after winning in Monaco last time out and he out-qualified the Dutchman on Saturday to start P2 here. He goes into today’s race just six points behind Leclerc and 15 off of Verstappen.
Express Sport provides live lap-by-lap updates of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix below.
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Good morning
Hello and welcome to Express Sport‘s coverage of today’s Azerbaijan Grand Prix on the sunny streets of Baku.
Charles Leclerc will be hoping to close the gap to Max Verstappen in the Drivers’ Championship standings by taking victory after claiming yet another pole position at the end of yesterday’s qualifying session.
The latter will start from third place on the grid but will be determined to work his way up the order despite the impressive pace of his Red Bull team-mate, Sergio Perez, over the duration of the weekend to date.
It seems as though it will be another painful race for Mercedes, though, with Ferrari and Red Bull very much in a league of their own around the twists and turns of this iconic street circuit.
We’re just 40 minutes away from lights out in Baku. Who will come out on top at the end of today’s 51-lap contest?
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