Vettel grabs pole at Azerbaijan GP

Beats arch-rival Lewis Hamilton by two-tenths of a second to take the third pole in a row.

Baku, Four-time champion Sebastian Vettel of Ferrari on Saturday recorded the best time in the qualifying session of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix as he claimed the 53rd pole position of his career and third pole in a row on Saturday. He will start from the pole position in search of a new victory thanks to his best lap of one minute and 41.498 seconds. "I felt the car was good Q1 and Q2 so I knew in the final session I knew I have the car to do what I want. The first lap I was really happy. Fortunately, that was enough," the Formula One World Championship leader tweeted. His teammate Kimi Raikkonen on the other hand ended the qualifying in a disappointment as he finished only in the 6th position. Raikkonen had the chance to attain the pole in the last run of Q3 when he was two tenths faster than his German compatriot but faltered in the 16th turn of the circuit. Vettel is to be joined in the front row by Briton Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes, the defending champion. Finnish Valtteri Bottas (Mercedes) will start third. Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo of Australia, winner of the 2017 Azerbaijan GP, is set to start from the fourth position, followed by Dutchman teammate Max Verstappen. Spaniards Fernando Alonso (McLaren) and Carlos Sainz (Renault) had mixed fortune in the qualifying sessions as the former was eliminated in the Q2, while the latter came 10th on the timesheet. Vettel is currently leading the championship with an 8 point lead. It will surely be fascinating to see the top two battling out with each other as the championship battle is heating up.