Motor racing-Leclerc hopeful of delivering on Baku promise

Ferrari's Charles Leclerc is hopeful he can make good on his stunning Baku pole with victory in Sunday's Azerbaijan Formula One Grand Prix. The Monegasque flirted with the unforgiving barriers of the Baku street circuit in Saturday's qualifying to beat Red Bull rivals Sergio Perez and Max Verstappen who will start second and third.

Ferrari's Charles Leclerc is hopeful he can make good on his stunning Baku pole with victory in Sunday's Azerbaijan Formula One Grand Prix.

The Monegasque flirted with the unforgiving barriers of the Baku street circuit in Saturday's qualifying to beat Red Bull rivals Sergio Perez and Max Verstappen who will start second and third. He is now setting his sights on delivering the win after being denied from pole at the last three races.

"I just want to finish the job," Leclerc told reporters on Saturday. "The past two weekends I've already said that on the Saturday and it didn't happen on the Sunday.

"It will be very nice if we make it work tomorrow. "Let's see how it goes in the first few laps and then I will try to keep the lead."

The Baku pole was Leclerc's fourth in a row and sixth from eight races this season. Yet he has not won since the third race of the season in Australia.

A strategy misstep cost Leclerc what would have been a commanding win from pole at his home race in Monaco two weeks ago. A power unit problem robbed him of another dominant pole-to-flag win a week before that in Spain.

In Miami, his Ferrari did not appear to have the race pace to keep up with Max Verstappen's Red Bull. As a result, Leclerc has seen what was a 46-point advantage over Verstappen after Australia turn into a nine-point deficit.

"(Our race pace) looked strong in second practice," said the 24-year-old. "Whether it's strong enough compared to the Red Bulls, this we'll see tomorrow.

"From my feeling it feels better in the race but we still need to confirm it tomorrow. "Tomorrow we will have the answer for that but the feeling is there and it's good so I'm optimistic for tomorrow."