Four Baku poles. Still no win for Leclerc.

Charles Leclerc started four consecutive Baku Grands Prix from pole, but race pace, an engine failure, and a decisive Piastri pass left him without a victory.

Results through the 2025 Azerbaijan GP. Grand Prix qualifying and races only; Sprint events excluded.

For four consecutive editions, Charles Leclerc put Ferrari at the front of the Baku grid. Four times, somebody else took home the winner’s trophy.

From 2021 through 2024, he kept producing the lap that everyone else had to beat. The races brought a different challenge: holding that advantage over 51 laps.

His results from those four poles were fourth, retirement, third, and second. Each tells a different story about why the qualifying performance never became a victory.

2021: The lead disappeared early

Leclerc’s first Baku pole put him ahead of Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen. That order didn’t last long.

Hamilton passed him on lap two. Verstappen followed on lap seven, and Sergio Pérez went through a lap later. Before the first round of pit stops, Leclerc had slipped to fourth.

The late disruption gave him another opportunity, but his final fight was for the podium. Pierre Gasly held him off after the restart, leaving Leclerc fourth.

The pole had been impressive. Keeping the Mercedes and Red Bulls behind in the race proved a different task.

2022: An engine failure ended the challenge

A year later, Leclerc again qualified fastest, but Pérez took the lead at the start.

Ferrari brought Leclerc in during an early Virtual Safety Car period. When the Red Bulls subsequently stopped, he moved back into first place.

Then his engine failed.

Leclerc retired while leading, leaving the question of how the competing strategies would have played out unanswered. This was a genuine opportunity cut short by reliability, though leading at that stage didn’t guarantee he would have won.

2023: Red Bull had the race pace

Leclerc’s third consecutive pole came in Friday qualifying, which set the grid for the Grand Prix. His separate Sprint qualifying result doesn’t add another pole to this count.

He kept the lead at the start, but Verstappen and Pérez both passed him in the opening laps. The Red Bulls went on to finish first and second, with Pérez winning.

Leclerc held off Fernando Alonso for third, finishing more than 21 seconds behind the winner.

Ferrari had beaten Red Bull over one lap. Over the race distance, Leclerc couldn’t stay with them.

2024: Piastri made the decisive move

The fourth attempt became a sustained fight for victory.

Leclerc led the opening stint, but after the pit stops Oscar Piastri attacked into Turn 1 on lap 20 and took the lead.

Leclerc stayed close and repeatedly tried to respond. Piastri kept the McLaren ahead, then gained breathing room as the Ferrari’s tires faded late in the race.

Second place was Leclerc’s best Baku Grand Prix result yet. It also completed the four-race sequence: four poles, two podiums, no wins.

The pole streak ended. The target remains.

Leclerc qualified tenth in 2025 and finished ninth. His run of poles was over, but the missing victory remained.

Those four weekends show why a single explanation doesn’t fit. In 2021 and 2023, rivals passed him and had the stronger race performance. In 2022, the engine failed while he led. In 2024, Piastri took the lead on track and defended it.

Ahead of the 2026 Azerbaijan Grand Prix, Leclerc has already demonstrated how fast he can be around Baku. The unfinished business is turning that speed into a race win.