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Charles Leclerc stormed to pole position at the 2023 Azerbaijan GP by beating both Red Bull drivers.
In a stunning display, the Ferrari driver nailed the second sector of his final lap while both Sergio Perez and Max Verstappen struggled, paving his way to the front of the grid. While the top three comprised the trio, Carlos Sainz finishing in P4, almost a second slower than his teammate, was interesting.
Moreover, both Mercedes and Aston Martin struggled to put together a more competitive time. In a session that had too many stoppages and action, what were the key takeaways? Let's take a look.
#1 Charles Leclerc is one of the elites
One of the drivers in the last few seasons who has been a victim of often unfair criticism is Charles Leclerc.
The Ferrari man has been brilliant overall but more often than not, his mistakes, however few they're, tend to get highlighted more often. As a result, some preposterous claims tend to surface that rate Leclerc's teammate higher than him.
If there was anyone who ever doubted how good Leclerc is, the Monageque's qualifying lap in the 2023 Azerbaijan GP should shut them up. It was a stunning display from a driver who secured pole in a car that's arguably slower than the chasing pack behind him.
Charles Leclerc has proved once again that he belongs in the elites in F1, which should never be doubted by anyone.
#2 Max Verstappen and Red Bull still the favourites to win 2023 Azerbaijan GP
While Leclerc should be happy and proud of what he achieved, it's difficult to ignore the fact that Red Bull are still the overall better package, and in the hands of Max Verstappen, they're working like a charm. Even Leclerc admitted after the session that Ferrari would probably struggle to keep the Red Bulls behind during the 2023 Azerbaijan GP.
With other possible contenders like Aston Martin and Mercedes too far behind in terms of performance, it appears that Verstappen could have a clear road to another race win.
#3 Time to introspect for Alpine, Aston Martin and Mercedes
After the lofty highs of Australia, the 2023 Azerbaijan GP has brought Alpine, Mercedes and Aston Martin to the ground.
Alpine were riding high on Pierre Gasly's performance at Albert Park and talked about challenging for P2. Mercedes boasted a P2 result for Lewis Hamilton and talked a big game heading into the Azerbaijan GP, while Aston Martin were riding high wit three consecutive podiums.
All three teams would be sitting and thinking about the gravity of the task in front of them now. Mercedes are close to a second slower than Ferrari over a lap. Aston Martin struggled with the DRS, but the car was still quite slow, while Alpine could not even make to Q3.
It's a fair argument that maybe the teams were caught out by the single practice session of running, but the rules are the same for everyone. Both teams know they need to work harder if they have to achieve their season goals.
#4 McLaren looking good, and so are AlphaTauri
With the fear of jumping to conclusions fairly early, both McLaren and AlphaTauri looked spectacular in Baku.
If that's not track-dependent and a result of the new set of upgrades, it bodes well for both teams' prospects. Having said that, when it comes to McLaren, one needs to be careful. This is not the first Q3 appearance for the Woking-based squad this season, as they achieved it in Jeddah, too. Having said that, with both drivers in Q3, there are positive signs for the team.
Similarly for AlphaTauri, they appear to be doing a very impressive job on the straights, ironically an area where Yuki Tsunoda had complained about.
When we take all these things into consideration, it raises a very important question. Are all of them track specific for the 2023 Azerbaijan GP, or is there more to it?
We will have to wait for a couple of races to get the answer, but for now, one has to praise the kind of job Tsunoda has been doing with the team this season.
#5 Reliability, crashes and stoppages will feature prominently
One thing that looks obvious after the first day of running at the 2023 Azerbaijan GP is that teams have been unable to refine their cars.
The drivers are not entirely sure or confident of what they can do with the cars, and, hence, there has been a sense of hesitation. Moreover, there has been a somewhat underconfident outlook from teams, as all of them could not get their run-ins.
What exacerbates things is the nature and demands of the 2023 Azerbaijan GP. The track is narrow, induces errors, and power units become quite susceptible. Multiple power units have already been compromised and incidents galore have already happened.
In the next two days, neither of the two is going to reduce, as the sprint qualifying and sprint race is going to make the drivers more susceptible to errors. Be prepared for stoppages, incidents and reliability issues this weekend. There are going to be loads of them at the 2023 Azerbaijan GP.
