The first day of track activities for the Azerbaijan GP this Friday (10) ended with Ferrari in the lead, different from how it had started. Charles Leclerc led TL2
After the first impressions taken earlier with the initial free practice of the Azerbaijan GP weekend, Formula 1 was back on track this morning to hold the second free practice on the streets of the capital Baku. The wind from the other activity was still present, and so was Ferrari's strength. Charles Leclerc finished the day as the fastest.
Pre-weekend expectations and Red Bull's strength in TL1 pointed to a certain favoritism of the Red Bulls on the long Azeri track, but Leclerc gave the answer Ferrari wanted to see and outpaced Sergio Pérez and Max Verstappen to show that the Italian team is fully alive. It comes into Saturday at least on equal footing in the fight for pole-position.
As in the morning - and in all activities in Monaco - Sergio Pérez finished ahead of Max Verstappen. The Mexican was second and 0s248 slower than Leclerc, while Verstappen was 0s356 behind the leader.
Fernando Alonso edged out Carlos Sainz, who didn't even set a competitive lap on soft tires, and was fourth. The Ferrari driver came in fifth, more than 1s behind his teammate. Pierre Gasly, George Russell, Yuki Tsunoda, Esteban Ocon, and Lando Norris rounded out the top-10. Lewis Hamilton was in 12th place.
GRANDE PRÊMIO follows all the activities LIVE and IN REAL TIME. On Saturday, TL3 is scheduled for 8am, while qualifying starts at 11am.
Check out how TL2 went:
If Baku is known as the City of Winds, it was living up to its nickname throughout the Azerbaijan GP free practice Friday. Formula One returned at the scheduled time, 11:00 a.m., for the last activity of the day and there was still a lot of wind - there was even a decrease compared to the morning, but it was small.
The first driver to open TL2 was a Ferrari: Carlos Sainz put the car on the track with the medium tires that the Italian team had not used earlier. It was also fast when Lando Norris escaped and ended up in one of the track's exhaust areas. Nothing serious, however, because the Englishman drove on alone.
Just as in TL1, the movement on the track was great right from the start. In a few minutes, everyone had left the garage and set a timed lap. McLaren were going for hard tires, but all the other teams were going for medium.
Lewis Hamilton managed to point in the lead for a few moments because of a lap in 1min46s295 set thanks to a vacuum that the seven-time champion caught behind Sergio Pérez. It was a high lap, however, which soon fell off. By the way, speaking of Hamilton, right afterwards he was taken by surprise when told that he was already ninth and was 2s3 behind the new leader, Charles Leclerc. "2s3? What the fuck is that?" he asked over the radio, amazed.
Leclerc's lap on medium tires was 1min43s806 and gave the Monegasque the lead in front of the two Red Bulls. Meanwhile, Carlos Sainz's concern was with a plastic bag he found on the track - something that had also happened to Esteban Ocon at almost the same time. Could it be the same plastic bag? One of them had also turned up in Formula 2 qualifying.
The Red Bull duo were also looking for some time and took turns between second and third place. By the time TL2 reached the 20-minute mark, Pérez was in front of Max Verstappen. By the halfway mark of practice, however, Max was second and pushing the 'Czech' into third.
With 30 minutes still to go, Leclerc, Verstappen, Pérez and Sainz formed the expected top-4, while George Russell stuck fifth. Fernando Alonso, Sebastian Vettel, Yuki Tsunoda, Ocon, and Pierre Gasly rounded out the top-10.
The flurry of jumps into the top-10 just before the 30-minute mark, as Russell and Vettel jumped into positions five and seven, showed the beginning of the use of soft tires, which would only increase in the sequence. In his attempt, Kevin Magnussen briefly escaped from the track, but it was Alexander Albon who pinched the wall at the entrance to the corner and caused certain in the region of the right front tire.
Shortly after, Mick Schumacher was also going straight through. The German, after so many accidents on street tracks, was quite slow, even, and had the worst time of TL2 by a wide margin - he was more than 2s behind his teammate. He even warned the team that he had a problem and took the car to the garage.
Leclerc, in turn, took the opportunity to set another best lap: 1min43s224 on soft tires. Then he also went over the point at turn seven and had his Ferrari stop for an instant. In second place, Pérez escaped at turn one. Many escapes by drivers on soft tires in TL2.
More exits! Pérez again, this time at turn 15 and hindering Verstappen's fast lap. The Dutchman continued without a competitive lap on the soft tire, as well as Sainz, who was behind Alonso. Max's lap was next, 1:43:580, and didn't move the champion from third place.
After that, the fast laps were evaporating. Drivers and teams spent the last 15 minutes doing various tests and, thus, nobody bothered Leclerc. There was time for another run-off by Sainz, but that was it. Ferrari managed to respond to Red Bull's favoritism.