FP2: Leclerc leads Perez and Hamilton during second practice in Azerbaijan

Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc set the pace during Friday’s second practice session for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, overcoming car problems to lead the way from Red Bull rival Sergio Perez and the Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton.

Following on from a red flag-filled first practice, the majority of drivers were quick to head back out on track and rack up some more mileage in similarly bright and warm conditions – a variety of runs being carried out with Pirelli’s hard, medium and soft tyres.

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There were some early concerns for Leclerc in his repaired Ferrari, though, with the Monegasque narrowly avoiding another moment at Turn 15, reporting that “the car is bent somewhere” and then sighing “it’s impossible” the team could not see anything on the data.

At a similar time, team mate Carlos Sainz survived a brush with the wall through Turn 1, Kick Sauber’s Zhou Guanyu took to the escape road at Turn 3, and reigning world champion Max Verstappen stopped perilously close to the Turn 5 barriers via a lock-up under braking.

After the early running, it was Sainz who led the way on a 1m 44.323s using medium tyres, a few hundredths clear of two-time Baku winner Perez on the same yellow-marked rubber, with Hamilton six-tenths back on the hard compound.

At the 20-minute mark, drivers began to make the switch to softs and, amid a flurry of qualifying-style laps, Sainz clocked a 1m 43.950s to maintain P1 over Oscar Piastri, Verstappen, Lance Stroll, Hamilton and Perez, while Haas super-sub Ollie Bearman sat in an eye-catching seventh.

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Lando Norris had been on course for a rapid lap until he encountered the slow-moving Pierre Gasly in the final sector, forcing the McLaren driver to back out of it while his Alpine rival got on the radio to apologise and report that he was trying to deal with battery issues.

Another attempt from Perez saw him take over at the top, the Mexican getting down to a 1m 43.490s, while replays showed moments for Verstappen, Sainz, rookie Franco Colapinto and Leclerc, who still seemed uncomfortable at the wheel after extensive checks in the Ferrari garage.

As the final push laps filtered through, Leclerc managed to put his problems to one side and charged to the top of the timesheets on a 1m 43.484s, slotting ahead of Perez, an improved effort from Hamilton, Sainz (who had another off at Turn 7), Piastri and Verstappen.

Stroll was the fastest Aston Martin runner in seventh, while an out-of-sync lap from George Russell – whose car underwent a precautionary engine change prior to FP2 – put his Mercedes between the Haas machines of Hulkenberg (who took to the run-off at Turn 15 late on) and Bearman.

Yuki Tsunoda and Fernando Alonso followed in P11 and P12 respectively, with Williams duo Alex Albon and Colapinto winding up 13th and 14th, in front of Vatteri Bottas’s Kick Sauber, Daniel Ricciardo in the other RB and the aforementioned Norris (having been compromised on that soft run).

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Alpine pair Gasly and Esteban Ocon were a lowly 18th and 19th as the chequered flag dropped, the latter having also been given a replacement power unit after an MGU-H issue of his own in FP1, as Zhou brought up the rear.

After the opening two practice sessions, drivers and teams will now dig through the data in the paddock to prepare for FP3, which is scheduled to begin at 1230 local time on Saturday – with qualifying to follow from 1600.