Everything that happened in first F1 Baku practice

Red Bull Formula 1 driver Sergio Perez led the way in the opening practice session of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix at the Baku street circuit.

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Key moments:

> Monaco GP winner Perez’s strong form continues

> Ferrari bouncing, Red Bull DRS flap wobbling

> Hamilton best of the rest for Mercedes

> Reliability dramas for Latifi and Schumacher

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Track action was briefly interrupted by a virtual safety car within the first 10 minutes already, as Mick Schumacher pulled over to the side of the track, his Haas seen leaking copious amounts of water. He’d reported a loss of power on the radio and was told it was “torque protection because of the water pressure” before being swiftly ordered to stop.

📻 "Mick, we need to stop the car"

With liquid leaking out of Schumacher's Haas he's forced to stop early in FP1 ❌#AzerbaijanGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/bQL54rDupJ

— Formula 1 (@F1) June 10, 2022

Another VSC stoppage followed mere minutes after the resumption, Nicholas Latifi reporting his Williams car – equipped with a fresh set of power unit components ahead of the session – “just died”, forcing him to park up in the Turn 5 run-off. Neither Schumacher, nor Latifi would return for the rest of the session.

Soon after the Williams was cleared away, Max Verstappen and team-mate Perez both posted medium-tyre laptime improvements to establish a Red Bull 1-2 ahead of the hard-shod Ferrari of Charles Leclerc.

Despite his rear wing flap oscillating massively with DRS open, Verstappen improved by nearly seven tenths once out on the softs – albeit with Perez then finding another three tenths to go up to a 1m45.476s.

Verstappen’s session then culminated in a Turn 15 spin as the chequered flag flew. “We really need to check that – I go into the corner off-throttle, downshifting, and it’s just pushing”, Verstappen reported.

Leclerc did manage to ultimately split the two Red Bulls, lapping just over a tenth off Perez, while Ferrari team-mate Carlos Sainz propped up the top four, half a second off the pace.

The Ferrari F1-75s were clearly affected by bouncing on the long straights of the Azerbaijani circuit, as were the Mercedes W13s – which didn’t stop Lewis Hamilton from finishing sixth, shrugging off an earlier trip to the Turn 4 escape road.

Hamilton had been on course for the ‘best of the rest’ fifth place before getting pipped by a late improvement from Alpine’s Fernando Alonso.

George Russell was a fair way back from Hamilton for much of the session but managed a late charge to place within half a tenth of his decorated team-mate – albeit with the pair split by the AlphaTauri of Yuki Tsunoda.

Tsunoda’s team-mate Pierre Gasly was on course for a last-gasp improvement before getting a massive Turn 15 lock-up that sent him down the escape road. He ended up ninth, with Esteban Ocon rounding out the top 10 – nearly eight tenths up on 11th-placed Lando Norris (McLaren).

The two Aston Martin cars in 12th and 14th had eventful sessions, with Lance Stroll brushing the barrier at Turn 15 and having a Turn 4 off but then placing two spots ahead of team-mate Sebastian Vettel, who complained of a persistent steering issue. Both set their best times on mediums.

The Alfa Romeo team, carrying a special one-off livery on both its cars this weekend, was led by Valtteri Bottas in 15th.

Practice 1 Results