Watch: Charles Leclerc walks up to Max Verstappen to congratulate him on the F1 Azerbaijan GP pole

Charles Leclerc congratulated Max Verstappen after the Red Bull driver claimed pole at the Azerbaijan GP qualifying. Verstappen pulled off a stunning lap to secure his first-ever pole at the Baku City Circuit, while Leclerc ended up on the barrier.

In Q3 of the qualifying, Verstappen managed to clock 1:41.117 on the timesheet, and was nearly five-tenths faster than Carlos Sainz, the driver in P2. As a result, he set P1 for him on Saturday.

As the four-time world champion ended up on pole, he was congratulated by Leclerc, the star pole sitter at the track. The Monegasque driver has been on pole on four past occasions, from 2021 to 2024.

Leclerc arrived to shake hands with Verstappen, Liam Lawson and Carlos Sainz as the three drivers took their positions in the top three on Saturday. Here's the video uploaded by Red Bull Racing on Instagram, where Leclerc congratulated Verstappen after the latter's pole:

Saturday's qualifying at the Baku City Circuit was a chaotic one, as six red flags were called during the three sessions. Multiple drivers, such as Alex Albon, Nico Hulkenberg, Oscar Piastri, and Charles Leclerc, among many others, lost control of their cars and hit the barriers.

After six red flags, Verstappen claimed the pole ahead of Sainz. Liam Lawson pulled off a stunning P3, ahead of Kimi Antonelli. Antonelli's teammate, George Russell, qualified in P5, ahead of Red Bull's Yuki Tsunoda.

Lando Norris brushed off the wall in his final flying lap and ended up in P7, while Isack Hadjar managed P8. Oscar Piastri and Charles Leclerc both crashed in Q3, and had to be satisfied with P9 and P10, respectively.

---

Charles Leclerc let his feelings known after crashing out of qualifying

Charles Leclerc's Azerbaijan GP qualifying ended up on a terrible note after the Ferrari driver crashed out in Q3. Going for his flying lap in the final qualifying, the Monegasque driver locked up and hit the barrier. With this, his run in Q3 ended.

Marshals remove the damaged car of Charles Leclerc of Monaco and Scuderia Ferrari from the circuit during qualifying ahead of the F1 Grand Prix of Azerbaijan - Source: Getty

After the session ended, Leclerc shared his thoughts as he spoke about the incident to Sky Sports F1. Here's what he said:

"I have struggled massively throughout the weekend which is not the case before in Baku. Changed massively for Qualifying and the feeling got better but as soon as we have put Mediums it was very very difficult to put the tyres into the right temperatures."

Currently, Leclerc is in P5 in the Drivers' Championship with 163 points after 16 races and three sprints. His teammate, Lewis Hamilton, is in P6 with 117 points.

Edited by Sabyasachi Biswas