Charles Leclerc has admitted the track in Azerbaijan is one of his favourites after beating Oscar Piastri to secure pole ahead of Sunday’s Grand Prix.

The Ferrari star went into the day on a high after winning the Italian Grand Prix last time out.

And Leclerc was quicker than the rest on Saturday, with the Ferrari star finishing ahead of both Piastri and team-mate Carlos Sainz.

The 26-year-old has now clinched pole for the fourth time in Azerbaijan.

And he’s now admitted that the event is one of his favourites.

He said: “It’s one of my favourite tracks of the season, I really like it, it hasn’t been an easy weekend because of the crash in FP1, it didn’t make me lose confidence as I knew that the pace was there, but you’ve got to be back up to speed.

“In Q3 and qualifying it was all about trying to stay as far as possible from the walls and on the last lap I went for it a bit more and the lap time came very nicely.

“The car felt really good and everything felt great, so it’s amazing to be on pole.”

Leclerc acknowledges the job isn’t done yet, however, and says the Ferrari team will be ‘doing their homework’ as they look to make it back to back Grand Prix victories.

“It’s the best we could have hoped for,” he continued.

“I mean even the left side of the grid is a little bit less grip so first and third is where you want to start, so hopefully we can play a team game tomorrow to win that race.

“It’s going to be a long race, in the past we are very strong at qualifying and struggling a bit in the race.

“This year, we have a stronger race car so I hope we can finally make it tomorrow.

“Tyre management will be a big thing tomorrow so we’ve got to do a good job, we did a good job in Monza, but we have to reset every race we do so tomorrow is another race with other issues, even though tyre degradation is there, it’s with different tyres so you’ve got to adapt to that.

“We will do our homework tonight to get ready for tomorrow.”

The McLaren star believes his side can challenge Ferrari for victory.

He does also admit, however, that it will be no easy task.

“I got a little bit close to the walls on the last lap; just tried to get the most out of it,” he said.

“This track rewards commitment and the last lap in Q3, I knew a had a little less to lose, so just tried to maximise the car.

“It was feeling good all the way through; just didn’t maximise it enough in the first part of qualifying but I’m very happy with Q3.

“I think from where we are starting, yes [McLaren can challenge].

“But following around here is really tough, we saw yesterday, it was pretty tough once you get behind someone, hopefully get some clean air, which will be good.

“We’ll see what we can do. I think our race pace is good, but again, the Ferraris are certainly not slow.”