Carlos Sainz Seen Breaking Rules as He Greets 2023 Azerbaijan GP Polesitter Charles Leclerc

Tejas Venkatesh | 29/04/2023
Carlos Sainz Seen Breaking Rules as He Greets 2023 Azerbaijan GP Polesitter Charles Leclerc

Charles Leclerc beat Max Verstappen to the line as the Ferrari driver secured the pole position for the race on Sunday. This marks Ferrari’s first pole position since the start of the 2023 season. Hence Carlos Sainz did not hesitate to greet his teammate while breaking some rules after the qualifying round.

The Spaniard got out of his car and went to give a warm hug to the Monegasque driver, who was busy preparing for his post-race media duties. However, in doing so, Sainz came pretty close to get penalized.

 

After the qualifying, only the top three performers are allowed in the podium area for cooldown and a mandatory interview. Nonetheless, the Spaniard was least bothered and shook hands with his teammate.

Carlos Sainz happy to see Leclerc on pole

While Charles Leclerc blitzed past the Red Bull to secure pole position, Carlos Sainz was forced to play second fiddle. Sainz lacked the speed that the Monegasque managed to extract from the SF-23. Based on their FP1 performances, Ferrari allowed Leclerc to take the lead in qualifying.

However, the Spaniard played a significant part in helping his teammate secure the pole. Sainz managed to give Leclerc an advantageous tow, which gave the polesitter a slight edge over Max Verstappen.

 

Sainz said after the session, “Already in FP1, I lacked pace and confidence. Quali was complicated for me. I was missing a set of tyres in Q3. So I was not there to fight for pole today.”

However, the Spaniard is happy to see his teammate secure a front-row spot and remains optimistic about tomorrow’s Sprint race. He continued, “Leclerc’s pole is very good for the team. Tomorrow is another chance.” Sainz will start the race from 4th position.

Leclerc secures 3rd consecutive pole in Baku

Charles Leclerc suffered a terrible start to the 2023 season. The Monegasque overcame his earlier problems to secure his 3rd consecutive pole position in Baku. Yet, the result surprised the Ferrari driver, who was impressed by Ferrari’s improvement during the 3-week long break,

He said after the race, “We came into the weekend thinking that it would be a great weekend if we are in front of Aston and Mercedes in qualifying and at the end, we are on pole. So it’s a really good surprise.”

 

However, the 5-time GP winner reminded us that Ferrari’s challenge is to deny Red Bull the win on Sunday. The RB-19 is still faster in the longer run.

The Monegasque was also pleased to see his team adapt to the new format. Leclerc added, “It’s a very challenging weekend overall for us drivers because we had very little time to practice. We only had one FP1 and then you need to be straight on it.”

Leclerc looks forward to the sprint race tomorrow. This was Leclerc’s 19th career pole position and his first since the 2022 Singapore GP.

Post Edited By: Samriddhi Jaiswal
carlos sainz Charles Leclerc ferrari

About the author

Tejas Venkatesh

Tejas Venkatesh is a Motorsports writer at The SportsRush. He started watching F1 in 2007 and fell in love with the sound of the revving V8s. A technical nerd, tejas loves to nerd over the technical beauty only motorsports can achieve. He calls himself a Vettel fanboy and spent the night crying after Hockenheim 2018. Apart from F1, Tejas is an avid Chelsea Fan and loves football.

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