Formula 1

Leclerc fastest but Red Bull looks strongest after F1 Baku practice day

by Jack Cozens
4 min read

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Charles Leclerc responded to his crash in first practice by ending a second Azerbaijan Grand Prix practice session that he missed a considerable chunk of with the fastest time of all.

But the timing of his run, set with a little more than 10 minutes of the session remaining, and the slender advantage he enjoyed at the top of the times suggests Red Bull is a more convincing proposition and in contention over a single lap in Baku.
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And if that seems a surprise considering Red Bull's recent performance issues, so too is the identity of its lead driver so far this weekend - as Sergio Perez outperformed his Formula 1 points-leading team-mate Max Verstappen throughout second practice.

Perez, who has not scored a podium since April's Chinese GP but has taken two of his six grand prix wins in Baku, registered a best effort that was a mere six thousandths slower than Leclerc's pacesetting 1m43.484s.

He ended up more than half a second faster than Verstappen, who endured a couple of moments under braking for the Turn 3 left-hander as the sun began to set during FP2 and ultimately ended up sixth fastest, and was the faster of the two on the limited long run simulations teams completed in the final stages of the session.

Carlos Sainz, who'd been fastest after the first qualifying simulations runs on soft tyres, looked similarly quick on mediums during the long runs alongside McLaren duo Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris, while Lewis Hamilton - third fastest in FP2 and just 0.060s back from Perez - also put in an eye-catching run on hards.

Long-run laps

Hamilton (hard): 1m48.337s; 1m50.735s; 1m48.901s; 1m48.036s; 1m48.089s
Perez (medium): 1m49.163s; 1m48.907s; 1m48.485s; 1m50.033s; 1m49.000s; 1m48.887s; 1m49.106s
Piastri (medium): 1m48.966s; 1m48.558s; 1m48.552s; 1m48.507s; 1m48.557s; 1m49.789s; 1m49.847s; 1m50.008s
Sainz (medium): 1m49.834s; 1m49.835s; 1m48.813s; 1m49.107s; 1m49.091s; 1m48.112s
Verstappen (medium): 1m50.270s; 1m49.694s; 1m49.216s; 1m49.010s; 1m48.792s
Norris (medium): 1m49.273s; 1m49.020s; 1m48.907s; 1m49.696s; 1m50.378s; 1m49.835s

Over minimum of five laps with outliers removed

Leclerc did not attempt any meaningful long runs, such was the peculiar nature of his session.

Ferrari had his SF-24 repaired in time for the start of the session following his crash in FP1, but Leclerc quickly reported "the car is bent somewhere".

After his request for an update came back with limited response, Leclerc soon declared: "Guys, I'm not running with this car anymore; I'm pitting.

"It's impossible you cannot see that on data. Impossible. It's completely...it's not straight."

He was consigned to the pits - surrounded by a human shield of Ferrari personnel as mechanics tended to the front of his car, suggesting a possible steering issue - until the second half of the session, first returning to the track on mediums before his late performance runs on softs.

Sainz ended the session fourth in the second Ferrari ahead of Piastri, who was half a second down in the lead McLaren.

Behind Verstappen, Aston Martin's Lance Stroll was seventh and fastest of the midfield cars with a lap that was just 0.064s slower than the Red Bull driver's.

Stroll was more than three tenths clear of Nico Hulkenberg, who headed an incredibly tight midfield pack; his eighth-placed Haas was barely three tenths faster than the Sauber of Valtteri Bottas in 15th.

Hulkenberg and stand-in team-mate Ollie Bearman were both in the top 10, split by George Russell.

The Mercedes driver missed the first half of the session as his team made a "precautionary" engine change, and was sent out to conduct running on hards before a late soft-shod effort in the final 10 minutes of the session.

Russell was then called in during the final minutes of the session as Mercedes reported an issue with his car. This was initially believed to be a water leak but was actually a sensor failure.

The one conspicuous absentee from the top 10 was Norris's McLaren.

He had been on course to rival Sainz's mid-session table-topping effort, only to have to back out of his fast lap when he was baulked by the Alpine of Pierre Gasly through one of the fast kinks towards the end of the lap.

Gasly, who had attempted to move over to the left-hand side and out of the McLaren's way, reported he had "a problem with the battery" and also offered an apology over his team radio.

Norris was only 17th fastest, 1.672s off but ahead of both Gasly and his team-mate Esteban Ocon, who had his power unit replaced between the two practice sessions after an MGU-H issue in FP1.

The Alpine looks particularly recalcitrant in Baku; Ocon was four tenths adrift of Gasly, and barely a tenth faster than the Sauber of Zhou Guanyu that ended the session at the bottom of the pile.

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