Charles Leclerc took pole for the first time this season as he beat both Red Bulls during qualifying for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.

In what quickly became a duel between Max Verstappen and Leclerc, the pair managed to set the exact same time in the second to last flying lap.

But it was the Ferrari man who came out on top, setting the quickest time of 1:40.203, 0.188 seconds ahead of Verstappen.

It was also a strong showing for both McLarens with Lando Norris qualifying in P7 and Oscar Piastri in P10 while Yuki Tsunoda will start in P8.

As was anticipated, it was a qualifying session full of red flags with two being shown in the first session, causing the qualifying session to finish 30 minutes after schedule.

Nyck de Vries brought out the first red flag and an early end to his qualifying session after being overly ambitious into Turn 3. Ignoring the run off, the Dutchman was confident he could make the corner but instead drove head first into the wall.

It was not long after the restart that the red flag was soon shown again this time for Pierre Gasly who followed up his fire in FP1 by shredding the right of his car following a collision with the barrier.

At the same time, Carlos Sainz was lucky to avoid making contact with the wall as he spun out of the corner.

The third and final retiree of Q1 was Kevin Magnussen who was instructed to return back to the pits after his race engineer Mark Slade instructed him there was a problem with his engine.

His team-mate Nico Hulkenberg was unable to move past Q1, finishing P17, while Zhou Gunayu also exited at the earliest stage for the second time in as many races.

In Q2, it was disaster for Mercedes as George Russell departed while Lewis Hamilton narrowly avoided suffering the same fate. It was good news for McLaren though with both drivers able to make it to the final stage of the qualifying session.

Qualifying results from the Azerbaijan Grand Prix in full:

1 Charles LECLERC Ferrari 1:40.203
2 Max VERSTAPPEN Red Bull Racing +0.188
3 Sergio PEREZ Red Bull Racing +0.292
4 Carlos SAINZ Ferrari +0.813
5 Lewis HAMILTON Mercedes +0.974
6 Fernando ALONSO Aston Martin +1.050
7 Lando NORRIS McLaren +1.078
8 Yuki TSUNODA AlphaTauri +1.378
9 Lance STROLL Aston Martin +1.408
10 Oscar PIASTRI McLaren +1.408
11 George RUSSELL Mercedes +0.832
12 Esteban OCON Alpine +0.976
13 Alexander ALBON Williams +0.996
14 Valtteri BOTTAS Alfa Romeo +1.437
15 Logan SARGEANT Williams +1.573
16 ZHOU Guanyu Alfa Romeo +1.373
17 Nico HULKENBERG Haas F1 Team +1.486
18 Kevin MAGNUSSEN Haas F1 Team +2.148
19 Pierre GASLY Alpine +3.584
20 Nyck DE VRIES AlphaTauri +14.013

The article F1 2023 results: Qualifying results from the Azerbaijan Grand Prix appeared first on Planetf1.com.