2024 F1 Azerbaijan GP Qualifying: Key takeaways

Charles Leclerc continued to cement his place as the king of the Baku street circuit by securing his fourth consecutive pole position for the F1 Azerbaijan GP. The Ferrari driver had a minor setback yesterday when he crashed his car in FP1, but throughout the sessions, it did appear that he was able to just pace himself through to the next level, and when the time came to push in Q3, he had performance in the bag.

In P2, we had Oscar Piastri, who nailed everything in Q3 after McLaren struggled for pace early in the session. In P3, we have Carlos Sainz, who was a bit disappointed not to be on the front row alongside his teammate.

Max Verstappen and Lando Norris had a disappointing session as the Red Bull driver was outqualified by Sergio Perez while the McLaren driver was knocked out in Q1. With the grid being set for the 2024 F1 Azerbaijan GP, what have we learnt from the qualifying session? Let's take a look.

2024 F1 Azerbaijan GP Qualifying: What have we learnt?

#1 Charles Leclerc is just something else at Baku

Some drivers have these tracks where they just click and everything works for them. The F1 Azerbaijan GP track layout is the one for Charles Leclerc, where the Ferrari driver cannot put a foot wrong. He's been on pole on this track for four consecutive years now, and 2024 might just be the first time when he probably has the car to win the whole thing.

This season, there appears to be a level of maturity that Leclerc has found in his game, and it is going to take him a long way.

#2 Franco Colapinto and Ollie Bearman are special

If there is one key takeaway from the F1 Azerbaijan GP qualifying, then it is the fact that Franco Colapinto and Ollie Bearman are special. The two drivers outqualified their respective teammates, and even if they hadn't because there was a level of things not being optimized for either Hulkenberg or Albon, it would still have been impressive.

It's a shame that Colapinto only has six more races to show what he can do, but if Mattia Binotto of Audi or Helmut Marko of Red Bull are looking at the Argentinian, they're looking at someone they can probably give an opportunity.

#3 Max Verstappen had another stinker in qualifying

Max Verstappen would be happy in a sense because his primary championship rival qualified behind him, but it's safe to say that there's a level of disappointment as well. The Dutch driver has had a second consecutive qualifying session where he's not optimized everything.

This was also the first time since 33 races that Sergio Perez got the better of him in qualifying as well. The Red Bull driver would be a bit disappointed, but there's still all to play for in the F1 Azerbaijan GP.

#4 Lando Norris unfortunately got caught out in the F1 Azerbaijan GP qualifying

The first reaction looking at Lando Norris slowing down on his fast lap was that he made a mistake near the end of his lap. As it turns out, this was entirely a result of the yellow flag forcing the driver to back off. This is just Baku being Baku.

When we say this is Baku being Baku, it also means that all is still to play for in the race. The track is notorious for stoppages, and anything could happen. Lando Norris will have to be patient and aggressive at the same time in the F1 Azerbaijan GP because, unlike the last few years, overtaking has become much harder on this track recently.

#5 Lewis Hamilton's qualifying pace is starting to be a major concern

Being almost half a second down on your teammate is disappointing, to say the least. For this to happen to one of the best qualifiers in F1 history is almost strange. While it should be appreciated that George Russell is quite clearly one of the best drivers in F1, the fact that Hamilton is now 13-4 (excluding sprints) should be concerning.

Hamilton has Russell as his teammate right now at Mercedes, a team he's been a part of for more than a decade. If he's struggled to hang with Russell in an environment he's familiar with, how will he fare against Charles Leclerc in a completely different environment at Ferrari next season?

Things aren't looking great for Lewis Hamilton right now, and he might have to take a good look at where things are going wrong.