FP1: Verstappen goes fastest as Leclerc and Colapinto crash out in disrupted session in Baku

Max Verstappen left it late to set the pace during opening practice for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, as last year’s pole-sitter Charles Leclerc crashed out in his Ferrari.

Leclerc, winner last time out in Italy, is something of a Baku street circuit specialist, having taken pole in each of the last three years at the venue.

And the Monegasque was looking good early in the first hour of running in Azerbaijan as he set the pace on medium tyres.

However, he clipped the dirt on the outside of the approach to Turn 15 and slid into the wall, bringing out the red flags and ending his session with 30 minutes to go.

Grip was very low on the temporary track that isn’t used for racing at any other point during the rest of the year and thus it took some time for the drivers to find their confidence.

When they switched their attention to the soft tyres – which are the C5 for Baku, the softest in Pirelli’s range – it was Red Bull’s Verstappen who was quickest. The Dutchman clocked a 1m 45.546s at the death to move ahead of Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton by 0.313s.

It was a much more assured session for Red Bull, who were running a small upgrade to the floor, compared to Monza with Perez slotting into third late on, 0.376s adrift of Verstappen.

McLaren’s Lando Norris was fourth, ahead of Carlos Sainz in the Ferrari and the second McLaren of Oscar Piastri was sixth.

Aston Martin had anticipated Baku would be a stronger track for them – and the early signs were positive with Fernando Alonso seventh. The Spaniard edged out George Russell’s Mercedes and Leclerc (who didn’t do a soft tyre run).

Daniel Ricciardo completed the top-10, a second quicker than RB team mate Yuki Tsunoda who complained about a significant amount of bouncing.

Ollie Bearman was very strong for Haas, the Briton subbing in for Kevin Magnussen – who has been banned for one race after exceeding the permitted number of penalty points on his super licence. The 19-year-old was 0.162s quicker than team mate Nico Hulkenberg to end up 11th for the American team with whom he will race full time next season.

Lance Stroll seemed very unhappy with the balance of his Aston Martin, the Canadian saying at one point: “This is not a car, this is not a car right now.” He ended up 13th.

Sauber’s Valtteri Bottas had a little off at the start of the session but no harm was done and finished the session 14th, ahead of Tsunoda, with the second Sauber of Zhou Guanyu failing to set a representative time in 19th.

Franco Colapinto, competing in only his second FP2 session, was showing an impressive turn of speed but the Williams driver couldn’t catch a little snap at Turn 4 and slid into the wall. That brought out the red flag for the third time (the first was to clear debris while the second was required to clear Leclerc’s stricken Ferrari and repair the barrier).

Colapinto was classified 16th, a fraction ahead of Alex Albon who had a little trip down the escape road at Turn 4 but kept it out of the barriers.

It wasn’t a great day for Alpine, with Pierre Gasly down in 18th while Esteban Ocon was left propping up the time sheets after failing to set a timed lap.

The Frenchman reported a loss of power early on and, while he recovered to the pits, his session was over early as Alpine investigated the issue.