Practice 1 Report - Verstappen quickest

Max Verstappen
© Red Bull

Max Verstappen and Red Bull look set to bounce back from a couple of bad weekends as the Dutchman set the fastest time at the end of FP1 for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.

The session was interrupted three times, with the most important issue being Charles Leclerc’s running being halted as the Ferrari driver hit the wall in the notorious Turn 15, 26 minutes into the session. As usual the Monegasque was the pace setter in Baku, where he’s been dominant on many occasions, but also took his usual risks early on in the weekend, opened the corner entry too much and got his right wheels on the dirt, understeering into the tech-pro barrier and causing considerable damage to the right front corner of his SF-24 and to the floor of the car as well.

Rookie Franco Colapinto was the other driver to hit the wall, the Argentinian hitting the outside wall on the exit of Turn 4 after a snap of oversteer caught him out, so he’s likely to have to use a different gearbox for FP2, without getting a penalty as he was running a pretty worn out unit in this session. The first interruption was caused by debris on track, meaning a very short interruption of the procedures,

At the front, after Leclerc’s demise, the battle was between the other three top teams, but traffic, red flags and track evolution made it difficult to get a good read on each car. Hamilton seemed to have a slight edge over Norris as they both set their fastest times around the same lap but Verstappen saved it all for the finall minute and making the most out of the improved track conditions, jumped to the top of the time sheets. A few seconds before team mate Sérgio Pérez had also set his best time of the session, the Mexican ending up in P3, almost 0.4s behind his team mate, a closer gap than what he’s endured for most of the season.

McLaren didn’t bother with last minute low fuel runs as both Norris and Piastri swapped to the Medium tyres and did the beginning of a long run after the last red flag, the team already working on race preparation rather than trying to find the ultimate pace for qualifying. Both drivers were not too far from Hamilton’s pace when they did their Soft tyre runs, the Mercedes driver having a big advantage on the straights, while his rivals were gaining quite a bit in the slower corners of this track.

George Russell never managed to put a lap together on his set of Soft tyres, ending up in P8, more than 0.6s behind Hamilton and Sainz, who admittedly is not a great fan of the Baku street circuit, gave a glimmer of hope to Ferrari, as he was 5th quickest, splitting the two McLarens, but a solid 0.6s behind Verstappen. The speed of the SF-24 was better shown by Leclerc, before his crash, the Monegasque driver ending the session in P9, less than 0.1s behind Russell, but with a time set on Medium compound tyres and in what was, then, a comparatively dirty track.

Fernando Alonso, in 7th place, and Daniel Ricciardo, in 10th place, completed the top ten, the Spaniard also running on the Softs right at the end of the session, while the VCARB driver had a more traditional run plan, meaning his lap time is more representative. Team mate Yuki Tsunoda couldn’t get to grips with his car, repeatedly complaining “the car is bouncing like crazy”, so he’s likely to have a slightly higher ride height for FP2 as the initial set-up handed to the Japanese driver was clearly not working.

Just outside the top ten Oliver Bearman, having his first Grand Prix for Haas, replacing the suspended Kevin Magnussen, was 11th quickest ahead of team regular Nico Hulkenberg, with Lance Stroll tight behind them. Bottas would have had a similar lap time had his fastest lap not been interrupted by the red flag caused by Colapinto, so only Williams and Alpine looked to be on the backfoot at the start of the weekend. The Franch team ran only one car as a Power Unit issue forced Ocon to stop before setting a lap time and Gasly was the only runner not to try the Soft compound, using one set of Hard amd one set of Mediums during the session, so the full potential of the A524 will only be seen in FP2.