Leclerc hails ‘natural’ Baku Qualifying feeling as Hamilton targets podium in remaining races of 2025

Charles Leclerc backed his ‘natural’ strength on city tracks as he aims for a record-extending fifth consecutive pole position at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.

Throughout the recent era of dominance from Red Bull, the Baku City Circuit has been a happy hunting ground for Leclerc, with the Ferrari driver setting the fastest time in Qualifying in Azerbaijan in each of Max Verstappen’s title-winning campaigns from 2021-2024.

In contrast, no other driver has more than one pole to their name, with Valtteri Bottas, Sebastian Vettel, Lewis Hamilton, and Nico Rosberg sharing the remaining honours.

“It comes naturally,” said Leclerc of his Qualifying success. “I feel I am quite strong normally on city tracks and here, maybe there is something else as well that makes it particularly strong for me. It’s a good feeling to come back here. I know normally that I am strong here.

“However, it doesn’t change my mindset coming into the weekend. It is always the same preparation and I try not to look too much at the past, but it is definitely a track that I enjoy driving.”

He added: “Over one lap, with the new tyres, sometimes it can hide a little bit the weaknesses of a car. But on the long run, when degradation kicks in, that is really where it is difficult to hide the weaknesses.”

While Leclerc’s Saturday performances have been eye-catching, none of these pole positions have been converted into race wins, although he finished on the podium in each of the past two seasons.

Conceding a repeat of his recent Qualifying prowess may be difficult to repeat, he said: “McLaren will be the team to beat. Red Bull in Monza were very impressive with Max, I think they probably found something and brought new things with the car that made them do a big step forward, so I think they will also be up there with McLaren.

“I think we will be behind them, but it is a track that I particularly like and in which I have been performing particularly well in Qualifying over one lap. In the race, it is a bit more difficult to hide the true performance of the car, but we will do our best and see what is possible.”

On the other side of the garage, Hamilton is keen to experience a Ferrari on the Baku streets for the first time, believing that the car has more mechanical grip to offer than his previous Mercedes cars.

“A win is a bit far-fetched [in the remaining races] given I’ve been sixth, seventh and eighth most of the season,” Hamilton reflected. “I would love to get a podium for the team at some stage. Charles has had four or five of them.

“I feel optimistic coming into the weekend. I feel like I’ve found a couple of things, and now I need to work on extracting them. So I really hope that this weekend can be the start of that... I think [the Ferrari’s] got more mechanical grip, and it’s a lot softer than the cars that I’ve driven here before.”