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Practice report
Formula 1 Azerbaijan GP

F1 Azerbaijan GP: Verstappen tops FP1 as Leclerc, Colapinto crash

Verstappen back on top as Baku weekend kicks off with a red-flag interrupted session

Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing RB20, in the pit lane
Oscar Piastri, McLaren MCL38
Oscar Piastri, McLaren F1 Team signs an autograph for a fan
Alex Albon, Williams Racing
George Russell, Mercedes-AMG F1 Team
Helmut Marko, Consultant, Red Bull Racing
Frederic Vasseur, Team Principal and General Manager, Scuderia Ferrari
Oscar Piastri, McLaren F1 Team
Oliver Bearman, Haas F1 Team
Yuki Tsunoda, RB F1 Team VCARB 01
Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing
Valtteri Bottas, Stake F1 Team KICK Sauber
Nico Hulkenberg, Haas F1 Team, arrives at the track
Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin F1 Team
Franco Colapinto, Williams Racing, Alex Albon, Williams Racing
Lance Stroll, Aston Martin F1 Team, Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin F1 Team
Sergio Perez, Red Bull Racing
Oliver Bearman, Haas F1 Team
Valtteri Bottas, Stake F1 Team KICK Sauber, in the garage
Oliver Bearman, Haas F1 Team, in the cockpit
The car of Charles Leclerc, Ferrari SF-24 is wheeled down the pit lane by team members
Mercedes W15 floor detail
Red Bull Racing RB20 diffuser
Alpine A524 rear wing detail
Front wings for the Mercedes F1 W15
RB F1 Team VCARB 01 technical detail
Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing RB20, in the pit lane
Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes F1 W15
Valtteri Bottas, Stake F1 Team KICK Sauber C44
Carlos Sainz, Ferrari SF-24
Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes F1 W15
A Marshal waves the red flag
Oscar Piastri, McLaren MCL38
Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing RB20
Mike Krack, Team Principal, Aston Martin F1 Team
Lando Norris, McLaren MCL38, makes a pit stop during practice
Franco Colapinto, Williams Racing, climbs out of his damaged car after a crash in FP1
Franco Colapinto, Williams FW46, hits the wall and crashes out of FP1
Marshals remove the damaged car of Franco Colapinto, Williams FW46, from the circuit
Franco Colapinto, Williams Racing, is lead to the medical car after a crash in FP1
Oscar Piastri, McLaren MCL38, Yuki Tsunoda, RB F1 Team VCARB 01
Charles Leclerc, Ferrari SF-24
Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes F1 W15
George Russell, Mercedes F1 W15
Ferrari SF-24 technical detail
Carlos Sainz, Ferrari SF-24
Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin AMR24, in the pit lane
Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes F1 W15
Oliver Bearman, Haas VF-24
Carlos Sainz, Ferrari SF-24
Charles Leclerc, Ferrari SF-24, walks away from the car after crashing into the barrier
Charles Leclerc, Scuderia Ferrari, sits down after crashing into the barrier
Charles Leclerc, Ferrari SF-24, walks away from the car after crashing into the barrier
Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes F1 W15, Carlos Sainz, Ferrari SF-24
The car of Franco Colapinto, Williams FW46, after marshals cleared it from the track
Alex Albon, Williams FW46
Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin AMR24
Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes F1 W15
Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin AMR24
Pierre Gasly, Alpine A524
Carlos Sainz, Ferrari SF-24
Lance Stroll, Aston Martin F1 Team, suits up in the garage
Christian Horner, Team Principal, Red Bull Racing
Christian Horner, Team Principal, Red Bull Racing, Alessandro Alunni Bravi, Team Representative, Stake F1 Team KICK Sauber, Ayao Komatsu, Team Principal, Haas F1 Team, in the Team Principals Press Conference
Ferrari SF-24 technical detail
Valtteri Bottas, Stake F1 Team KICK Sauber, in the cockpit
Sergio Perez, Red Bull Racing RB20
Oliver Bearman, Haas VF-24
Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin AMR24
Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing RB20
Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes F1 W15, Lance Stroll, Aston Martin AMR24
Valtteri Bottas, Stake F1 Team KICK Sauber C44
Oscar Piastri, McLaren MCL38
Oscar Piastri, McLaren MCL38
Lance Stroll, Aston Martin AMR24
Oliver Bearman, Haas VF-24
76

Reigning world champion Max Verstappen headed an incident-packed first practice session for Formula 1's Azerbaijan Grand Prix, which was red-flagged for crashes by Charles Leclerc and Franco Colapinto.

Baku's high-speed layout offers low grip at the best of times as a one-off street circuit, but a light rain shower in the morning washed away what little grip F2 cars had attempted to lay down in their practice sessions.

Upon exiting the pits McLaren's Oscar Piastri relayed conditions were "very, very low grip' on the 6km city loop.

It was therefore no surprise that lap times were initially up to six seconds slower than last year's FP1 session, with Red Bull's Verstappen leading the way after 10 minutes courtesy of his 1.47.214s on medium tyres, demoting early efforts by Ferrari's Leclerc and Mercedes man Lewis Hamilton.

After 12 minutes, the red flag came out the first time for a small piece of metal debris at Turn 12, which caused a five-minute break in the proceedings.

Watch: Leclerc Quickest Amidst Troubles - Friday Updates

Once action got back underway, Verstappen wasted no time lowering his own benchmark to a 1m46.858s, but was immediately trumped by Leclerc's 1m46.608s, all on medium tyres.

But Leclerc's day took a dramatic turn for the worse when the Monegasque driver clattered into the wall at Turn 15 before the halfway mark, damaging his front right corner and bringing out the second red flag of the session.

On the team radio, Leclerc explained scooping up dirt caused his relatively low-speed shunt, with replays confirming the Ferrari driver dipped his front-right wheel off the racing line onto a dirtier part of the track, which led to a lock-up.

The session restarted with 26 minutes remaining, with most frontrunners moving onto the soft tyres.

A host of drivers traded turns atop the leaderboard on Pirelli's softest compound, including Red Bull's Sergio Perez and McLaren duo Piastri and Lando Norris.

Hamilton was the latest driver to head the timesheets with a 1m45.859s before the session was red-flagged a third time due to a crash by Williams rookie Franco Colapinto.

On his first-ever session in Baku, the 21-year-old Argentine lost the rear into the tight Turn 4 right-hander, with the back-end of his FW46 smashing into the outside wall, followed in by the front left.

The session resumed once more with 11 minutes on the clock to allow a window for soft-tyre runs.

Verstappen threatened to take over Hamilton's lead with two fastest sectors, but lost out on the straight towards the finish to settle for a close second. But in the dying seconds, the Dutchman launched again and took three tenths out of Hamilton's benchmark to top the session with a 1m45.546s.

Verstappen's team-mate Perez grabbed third, with the world champion's title challenger Norris fourth just under five tenths in arrears.

Carlos Sainz, who escaped an early off-track excursion without damage, was fifth, ahead of Piastri and Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso.

Mercedes' George Russell was the last driver to beat Leclerc's medium-shod time in eighth, with RB's Daniel Ricciardo rounding out the top 10.

Oliver Bearman, who deputises for the banned Kevin Magnussen this weekend at Haas, took 11th as he kicked off his second-ever grand prix weekend and the first for his 2025 F1 team.

Esteban Ocon saw his session curtailed after just three laps with suspected engine issues on his Alpine.

   
1
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4
   
   
1
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2
   
Cla Driver # Chassis Engine Laps Time Interval km/h
1 Netherlands M. Verstappen Red Bull Racing 1 Red Bull Red Bull 21

1'45.546

  204.752
2 United Kingdom L. Hamilton Mercedes 44 Mercedes Mercedes 19

+0.313

1'45.859

0.313 204.147
3 Mexico S. Perez Red Bull Racing 11 Red Bull Red Bull 17

+0.376

1'45.922

0.063 204.025
4 United Kingdom L. Norris McLaren 4 McLaren Mercedes 18

+0.481

1'46.027

0.105 203.823
5 Spain C. Sainz Ferrari 55 Ferrari Ferrari 21

+0.627

1'46.173

0.146 203.543
6 Australia O. Piastri McLaren 81 McLaren Mercedes 18

+0.736

1'46.282

0.109 203.334
7 Spain F. Alonso Aston Martin Racing 14 Aston Martin Mercedes 19

+0.906

1'46.452

0.170 203.009
8 United Kingdom G. Russell Mercedes 63 Mercedes Mercedes 18

+0.970

1'46.516

0.064 202.887
9 Monaco C. Leclerc Ferrari 16 Ferrari Ferrari 11

+1.062

1'46.608

0.092 202.712
10 Australia D. Ricciardo RB 3 RB Red Bull 23

+1.141

1'46.687

0.079 202.562
11 United Kingdom O. Bearman Haas F1 Team 50 Haas Ferrari 23

+1.427

1'46.973

0.286 202.021
12 Germany N. Hulkenberg Haas F1 Team 27 Haas Ferrari 20

+1.589

1'47.135

0.162 201.715
13 Canada L. Stroll Aston Martin Racing 18 Aston Martin Mercedes 15

+1.638

1'47.184

0.049 201.623
14 Finland V. Bottas Sauber 77 Sauber Ferrari 18

+2.094

1'47.640

0.456 200.769
15 Japan Y. Tsunoda RB 22 RB Red Bull 21

+2.162

1'47.708

0.068 200.642
16 Argentina F. Colapinto Williams 43 Williams Mercedes 12

+2.355

1'47.901

0.193 200.283
17 Thailand A. Albon Williams 23 Williams Mercedes 17

+2.409

1'47.955

0.054 200.183
18 France P. Gasly Alpine 10 Alpine Renault 21

+3.166

1'48.712

0.757 198.789
19 China Z. Guanyu Sauber 24 Sauber Ferrari 19

+3.506

1'49.052

0.340 198.169
20 France E. Ocon Alpine 31 Alpine Renault 3

 

   

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