Karun Chandhok raves about quietly ‘brilliant’ £27m-a-year driver after Azerbaijan Grand Prix feat

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Charles Leclerc continued his electric form with a brilliant pole position for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. Leclerc outpaced nearest challenger Oscar Piastri by more than three-tenths of a second.

Piastri denied Ferrari a one-two as Carlos Sainz completed the top three, with Sergio Perez fourth. It was the first time all season that Perez out-qualified teammate Max Verstappen.

Verstappen, sixth, shared the third row with Mercedes’ George Russell, who continued his dominance in the Mercedes head-to-head. Russell has won the qualifying battle with Hamilton with seven races still to go.

Fernando Alonso, the sole Aston Martin in Q3, took eighth. Williams rounded out the top 10, with Franco Colapinto ahead of Alex Albon after a bizarre issue.

Albon left the pits with a fan attached to his Williams and had to detach it himself, costing him the chance to set another lap. The big casualty in the first two sessions was championship contender Lando Norris.

Norris’ 100% Q3 record came to an end after a late yellow flag in Q1. That left him down in 17th on the grid.

Karun Chandhok heaps praise on Charles Leclerc after Azerbaijan Grand Prix pole

Speaking immediately after qualifying, Sky Sports F1 pundit Karun Chandhok commended Leclerc’s performance not only in Baku, but across the season as a whole. He feels that the 26-year-old’s ‘brilliance’ has gone somewhat unnoticed.

Leclerc came into the weekend third in the championship, 86 points adrift of leader Verstappen and 26 behind Norris. As Chandhok pointed out, he’s occupied that position since he left Saudi Arabia in March.

He arguably arrived in Azerbaijan as the favourite off the back of his memorable victory in Monza. He’s now taken pole position in the Land of Fire for four straight years.

Leclerc also scored podiums in Belgium and the Netherlands either side of the summer break. He now leads Sainz 11-5 in qualifying this year, and 10-5 in the races.

“Honestly, he’s having a brilliant season,” Chandhok said. “He’s sort of quietly going about his business. He’s not been outside the top three of the drivers’ world championship since Saudi, way, way back in round two. He’s just hovered around in third place in the drivers’ championship table.”

Charles Leclerc’s warning to Ferrari before Baku pays off

Last time Leclerc won a race in Monaco, there was talk that he could challenge for the drivers’ title. He was only 31 points behind Verstappen at that point, but a miserable run of one points finish in four races quickly dropped him out of contention.

The gap almost certainly remains too large, but Ferrari could be a factor in the constructors’. They’ve moved to within 39 points of the struggling Red Bull, potentially setting up a three-team battle.

Leclerc warned Ferrari after Monza that their last victory preceded their ‘worst’ run of the season. And they seem to have taken heed, recovering from his accident in FP1 to underline their progress.

Martin Brundle was ‘really surprised’ by Ferrari’s woes in June and July, much of which stemmed from an ill-conceived upgrade in Barcelona. But the team now appear to have corrected their development path ahead of Hamilton’s arrival in 2025.