Max Verstappen put Red Bull just ahead of Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc during the only practice session of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix weekend.
The reigning champion’s best time of a 1’42.315 was less than half a tenth quicker than Leclerc’s, with Sergio Perez third ahead of Carlos Sainz Jnr. Both Alpine drivers were halted after a fire for Pierre Gasly led to an investigation on his team mate’s car with a suspected hydraulic problem the culprit.
With only a single hour of practice, teams rushed out to try and make the most of the highlight limited track time that they had available. Thankfully, the skies over Baku were clear and sunny, giving drivers the best possible conditions in which to take to the circuit for their only practice of the weekend.
The freshly relaid asphalt around the circuit offered little grip as teams ventured out for the first time. George Russell was quick to complain about the slippery surface, while his Mercedes team mate Lewis Hamilton also came on the radio to complain about brake-by-wire troubles on his car.
Carlos Sainz Jnr clipped the inside barrier on the apex of turn five, taking a large chunk out of the painted barrier, but apparently not causing any damage to his Ferrari. However Yuki Tsunoda was not so fortunate when he spun rounding turn three, clipping the wall with his right-rear wheel. The contact tore the tyre from the rim, but Tsunoda managed to slowly recover back to the pits.
Just after 15 minutes into the session, Gasly developed a small fire at the rear of his Alpine, causing smoke to rise from the car. While he tried to recover to the pits, he eventually was told to stop on track at turn 12, bringing out the red flags as his Alpine began smoking with ever greater intensity. At the same time, Kevin Magnussen also came to a stop at the first corner after locking up his Haas under braking and having to bail out of the corner to avoid the barrier.
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After Gasly’s car was extinguished and recovered, Alpine began to strip down Ocon’s car as a precaution due to a suspected hydraulic problem, signalling the end of their session. Practice eventually restarted with over half an hour remaining, with Verstappen on top of the times ahead of Red Bull team mate Perez.
Leclerc briefly brought out the yellow flags after locking up into turn seven and grinding to a halt short of the barriers. After quickly activating reverse gear in his Ferrari, Leclerc managed to pull…
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