Azerbaijan GP: Can Ferrari’s Leclerc finally convert pole position into victory?

It is off to Baku for round eight of the 2022 season as the battle for the drivers' championship increasingly looks like a three-horse race, with Sergio Perez sitting just six points behind Charles Leclerc and 15 points behind Max Verstappen after his victory in Monaco.

Ferrari’s Leclerc starts on pole, just as he did in 2021, with Sergio Perez completing the front row of the grid. Reigning driver’s champion Verstappen and Carlos Sainz then make up the second row to complete a Ferrari and Red Bull lock out.

Leclerc, who sealed a fourth successive pole position as he triumphed in qualifying on Saturday has urged Ferrari to avoid "mistakes" as he attempts to finally convert a pole position into victory with the Ferrari driver failing to convert any of his three previous poles into victory.

Asked how he can turn his latest pole to a victory, Leclerc said: “Good start, no mistakes, just try and do what we did in the last races without the mistakes. The pace is there, the pace has been there in Barcelona, it has been there in Monaco. In Barcelona, it happens what happened and in Monaco we did a mistake and we will learn from it. If we do everything perfect, I think we can bring the win home.”

Baku is known for its speed and drama, the 51-lap, 6.003 kilometre City Circuit featuring a long main straight where drivers will be looking to use the slipstream. Intense strategic battles between Verstappen and Leclerc, the likes of which we have already seen this season, are surely on the cards again.

Elsewhere, Mercedes will be hoping Azerbaijan is as incident-filled as ever as they look to work George Russell from P5 and Lewis Hamilton from P7 up the order and into the contention for some podium places- as ever, anything is possible in Baku!