Azerbaijan GP: Verstappen leads Red Bull 1-2, Perez crashes in FP1

Verstappen clocked a 1m44.410s using supersoft Pirellis and ended the session 0.470s seconds clear of Daniel Ricciardo, with Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel a tenth further back in third.

Most of the field headed out on the soft tyres early on, with Lewis Hamilton setting the pace on that rubber in the Mercedes.

Several drivers, including Romain Grosjean, Vettel and Palmer, ran off track after locking up on what was a very green track, with Valtteri Bottas spinning at Turn 12.

Then with 30 minutes to go, the focus switched to the supersofts with Verstappen leading the way.

The session was red-flagged with just under 20 minutes to go, when Sergio Perez crashed heavily at the narrow Turn 8.

The Force India driver took too much kerb on entry, pitching the car into the wall on the exit and causing significant damage to the front-right corner.

The Mexican had had a strong session up until then, setting the fourth quickest time that put him over three tenths clear of teammate Esteban Ocon.

The marshals took just over 10 minutes to clear the car and debris, allowing the session to get restarted with just under six minutes to go.

Hamilton failed to get a clean lap on the supersofts, making mistakes on his first run and then getting baulked by traffic on his second.

The Briton ended the session fifth, a second off the pace, with teammate Bottas 0.3s further back in sixth after also struggling to get a clean lap in.

Ocon was seventh, with Felipe Massa - who looked strong on the softs - eighth in the leading Williams.

Kimi Raikkonen was ninth, 1.590s off the pace, with Daniil Kvyat sneaking into the top 10 with his final timed lap of the session.

Kvyat and teammate Carlos Sainz ran different T-wing configurations early on before spending most of the session in the garage. The duo did most of their running in the final few minutes.

Lance Stroll ended the session 11th, ahead of the two Haas cars of Kevin Magnussen and Romain Grosjean. 

Cla	Driver	Chassis	Engine	Laps	Time	Gap
1	Max Verstappen	Red Bull	TAG	19	1'44.410
2	Daniel Ricciardo	Red Bull	TAG	22	1'44.880	0.470
3	Sebastian Vettel	Ferrari	Ferrari	20	1'44.967	0.557
4	Sergio Perez	Force India	Mercedes	16	1'45.398	0.988
5	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	Mercedes	16	1'45.497	1.087
6	Valtteri Bottas	Mercedes	Mercedes	19	1'45.737	1.327
7	Esteban Ocon	Force India	Mercedes	24	1'45.752	1.342
8	Felipe Massa	Williams	Mercedes	25	1'45.968	1.558
9	Kimi Raikkonen	Ferrari	Ferrari	18	1'46.000	1.590
10	Daniil Kvyat	Toro Rosso	Renault	11	1'46.617	2.207
11	Lance Stroll	Williams	Mercedes	28	1'46.649	2.239
12	Kevin Magnussen	Haas	Ferrari	23	1'46.721	2.311
13	Romain Grosjean	Haas	Ferrari	22	1'46.837	2.427
14	Nico Hulkenberg	Renault	Renault	21	1'47.217	2.807
15	Stoffel Vandoorne	McLaren	Honda	22	1'47.446	3.036
16	Carlos Sainz Jr.	Toro Rosso	Renault	13	1'47.501	3.091
17	Fernando Alonso	McLaren	Honda	20	1'47.551	3.141
18	Jolyon Palmer	Renault	Renault	15	1'48.525	4.115
19	Pascal Wehrlein	Sauber	Ferrari	19	1'49.048	4.638
20	Marcus Ericsson	Sauber	Ferrari	21	1'49.937	5.527