Sergio Perez, Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton all downbeat after Azerbaijan Grand Prix struggles
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Updated 11/06/2022 at 17:55 GMT
Charles Leclerc will start Sunday's Azerbaijan Grand Prix in Baku first on the grid after setting the quickest time in Saturday's qualifying session. Second place went to Red Bull's Sergio Perez and third to his teammate Max Verstappen, leading the pair to rue a poor performance with hints of problems with their car.
‘Quite tricky’ - Drivers react to qualifying result at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix
Charles Leclerc’s pole position left both Red Bull’s drivers disappointed with their own performance in qualifying in the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.
Leclerc was dominant as he put down the fastest performance of the day but he admitted he had expected Red Bull to take first spot, particularly as they were fastest in FP3 earlier on Saturday.
However it was the Ferrari man who will start at the front of the grid, and Max Verstappen is a disappointing third.
Speaking after the session, second-placed Sergio Perez said: "It wasn’t an ideal qualifying. We couldn’t turn the engine on. We lost a few tenths. I think Charles had a very good lap."
Verstappen also hinted at problems with the car setup, saying: "The start of the lap was good and then it went away from me a little bit with tiny mistakes. Not ideal but in general just struggling a bit to find front or rear balance.
"Not of course what I want but still, as a team, being second and third we have a good opportunity. Overall we seemed to lack a little bit over one lap but in the long run our cars should be quite good."
Lewis Hamilton took seventh but struggled to match Red Bull and Ferrari for pace.
“I’m not surprised, it was the same in Monaco,” he admitted, though he was not giving up.
He added: “There’s lots to look forward to, it’s a tricky and chaotic race. There's lots that can happen. We’re in the top 10.
“It was a really difficult qualifying session because we’re constantly pushing. We have a very, very small window where we can work this car. Everything we try doesn’t give us what we want.
“We’re making lots of changes but coming up with the same conclusion which is often bouncing which loses us a lot of performance. But all the performance is when you get the car low. So you say, ‘OK, let’s take a beating in our backs and in our necks to get the car as low as possible, to get the performance.’
“A little bit lower, and it’s bouncing like crazy, but we’re still there, but we’re just very slow in the straights so it might be a struggle in the race but we’re going to give it everything. I hope we have a better race pace. Who knows?”
Hamilton is being investigated for slow pace during qualifying, something he explained should not be punished.
“Firstly I was offline, and I was within my delta time, and I wasn’t below that out lap pace, so I should be able to drive the pace I want,” he claimed.
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