At the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc secured pole position for the fourth time in a row, while his title rivals Max Verstappen and Lando Norris finished sixth and 17th respectively.

Norris, who is trying to reduce his 62-point deficit to Verstappen, experienced yellow flags on his final lap of the first session and faces a difficult Sunday.

Although Verstappen is in better form, he could still only manage sixth place as Red Bull continued to struggle with speed compared to its rivals.

Verstappen’s problems – his teammate Sergio Perez was two places ahead of him in fourth – should have provided a perfect opportunity for Norris to capitalise.

The Briton’s teammate, Oscar Piastri, qualified second behind Leclerc and ahead of the second Ferrari of Carlos Sainz.

However, due to Norris’ difficulties in the first session, he will try to limit the damage rather than inflict it on the Dutchman.

Leclerc, who was 0.321 seconds faster than Piastri, is aiming for his second consecutive victory after winning the Italian Grand Prix with Ferrari two weeks ago.

But despite his unrivalled speed on a lap in Baku, he has never won a Grand Prix on the streets of the city on the shores of the Caspian Sea.

“In the past we have had problems with race pace, but this year we are better in the races, so I hope we can finally do it tomorrow,” said Leclerc.

Leclerc had a dramatic weekend: he crashed in the first practice session on Friday and then had problems with his car in the second practice session. Two problems that cost him about half of his usual driving time on the first day of the weekend.

“It’s one of my favourite tracks. I really like it,” said Leclerc, adding that it had “not been an easy weekend”.

He said: “I wasn’t too worried and knew we had to make up some time. But the pace was always there and in qualifying it was just about staying as far away from the walls as possible. Then on the last lap I pushed a bit more and the lap time was very good.”