2026 Formula 1 Azerbaijan GP
F1 Azerbaijan GP: Follow FP1 in Baku with live timing
Keep in touch with F1's first practice session of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix weekend
Live Standings
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That'll be it from us for now - but we'll catch you a little bit later on for the second practice session. See you then!
Piastri, with freshly cable-tied bargeboards, gets up to sixth. It's Russell, Verstappen, Leclerc, Hamilton, Antonelli, Piastri, Lawson, Lindblad, Ocon, and Bortoleto for the top 10.
Ocon has stopped at the pit exit, and I think the car might have decided to give up on life there...no, it's moving! It's alive!
Bortoleto's going for a soft-tyre lap now, armed with Audi's updates for this round. Note the squarer nose-tip, which sniffs around Colapinto's Alpine for a tow...and he gets eighth.
Chequered flag then appears to end a scruffy FP1.
Sainz moves up to 10th, 0.05s ahead of 12th-placed Albon, as Lindblad seems to have got himself stuck at Turn 7. He's reversed out of trouble now.
Hulkenberg has also stopped on-track at Turn 4, and gets out of the car to help push it back. Keep the streets clean, etc.
Free Agent Ocon's up to seventh, ahead of Lindblad, Hulkenberg, and the still-pit-bound Piastri.
Norris, however, has hit the road to get some running on the car. The floor board was wobbling about, and a cable tie has come to the rescue. It's more like Scrapheap Challenge than F1 sometimes...
The Briton goes up to 12th, on used mediums. Sainz is also back on-track after that brake fire.
Hamilton has a better lap and is within 0.033s of Leclerc now. But the Ferraris didn't quite enjoy the tow that Russell had earlier on...
Lawson improves to sixth...or rather, improves by 0.3s but stays sixth.
Verstappen opens a lap, back onto the hard tyre now.
The classic Baku shot...
Sergio Perez, Cadillac Racing
Photo by: Guido De Bortoli / LAT Images via Getty Images
Piastri won't be going out again, as they do see an issue with his car. Both McLarens stranded at the moment.
Hamilton posts a lap on the mediums and is 0.8s off Russell's soft-tyre pace. Leclerc is going well, and goes third and 0.404s behind Russell.
Live timing seems to be working again on our side - apologies for the technical difficulties!
Hadjar, meanwhile, does not have a car that works and he's stuck in the garage.
Russell does a 1m45.387s to go fastest this time around.
Verstappen posts a 1m45.787s to go quickest, while Russell moves up to second with a 1m46.261s.
Leclerc, meanwhile, goes deep at Turn 1.
Piastri had his car checked for damage, as they seem to have found some front bib damage to Norris' car as the cars bounce around the road. Antonelli was spotted earlier, as the car rocked and sparked as it pitched forwards.
No damage, so Piastri continues.
"We need to box this lap to do a check in the pit box", Piastri is told. Not all plain sailing down at McLaren either...
Verstappen opens his lap on the soft tyre, but bails as the car hops around through Turns 5 and 6.
Hulkenberg is up to sixth, 0.656s off Antonelli's benchmark.
Russell snatches at the brakes at Turn 3, and just about saves the car from the wall with a split-second choice to switch to the run-off.
Verstappen almost simultaneously had a moment at Turn 1, with a lock-up while starting his own soft-tyre lap.
Colapinto, meanwhile, has moved up to seventh with a second lap on softs.
The Mercedes has now been moved, so we're back to green flag running. Hamilton just a tenth behind Antonelli as it stands.
Colapinto went up to 11th on softs, as Russell begins his lap on the C5s.
We have a VSC as Antonelli has stopped on-track at Turn 7. He reported that he'd lost the hydraulics, so he's had to bring the car to a stop. Marshals decide to squirt the fire extinguisher into the car.
Russell's about to go out on softs to rescue some running for Mercedes.
Since our leaderboard is MIA, it's currently:
- Antonelli, 1m46.265s
- Hamilton, 1m46.365s
- Verstappen, 1m46.512s
- Russell, 1m46.601s,
- Leclerc, 1m46.621s,
- Piastri, 1m47.407s
- Lawson, 1m47.634s
- Norris, 1m47.676s
- Hadjar, 1m47.873s
- Hulkenberg, 1m48.208s
Antonelli hits the top of the pile with a 1m46.265s, as Leclerc also enters the 1m46s. Norris bails out of a lap.
Hadjar reports that he's got a problem with his engine, and is told to stay in second gear before pulling into the pits.
Russell moves up to third, ahead of Leclerc.
Albon reports similar twitchiness on the brakes, so it seems everyone's having a few issues as it stands.
Verstappen is continuing to find time and gets a 1m46.512s.
We can see a Williams brake fire in the pitlane. Which, let's be honest, isn't good as they've got lots of new parts to test.
It's a 1m46.635s for Verstappen, as the dust is slowly getting cleared away. It's not easy though; we've just seen Piastri have a couple of snaps on-throttle.
"I have some weird pulling to the right, even when driving straight," Verstappen reports, similar to the issue Hadjar had.
Leclerc posts a 1m49.025s. Hard tyres for everyone at the moment, bar the McLarens. The expectation is for softs and mediums to be run in the race.
Leclerc sets a 1m54.395s, but the timings very quickly come down - Verstappen does a 1m49.202s, Norris half a second after losing time in the final sector. He's got the new updates on his car.
"Crazy pulling on the brakes," Hadjar reports, and he was very visibly having to make some adjustments at the wheel to ensure the car could keep facing the right way. "I almost shunted in the wall."
Lindblad's got the aero rakes on to help conduct some aero testing - he's got Liam Lawson back as his team-mate this weekend.
Piastri also reporting some "unbelievable" brake vibration.
FP1 is go!
Lindblad hits the road, followed by Bortoleto and Leclerc. Lots of drivers wanting to go early to help sweep the track.
Updates for Baku
Quite a lot of new bits around the grid, McLaren has new sidepods, a new floor edge, and revised diffuser. Red Bull has opted for a similar strategy with new floor, diffuser, and lower sidepods.
Williams has its floor updates, plus a lighter chassis, while Audi has a new front-end, updated floor, revised suspension fairings, and a new rear wing assembly.
McLaren MCL40 technical detail
Photo by: Benjamin Vinel
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Back to Baku
Good morning everyone! Thanks for joining our live feed for F1-as-it-happens - and it's the turn of Baku's Azerbaijan Grand Prix as the season now moves into the flyaway rounds. It's our first stop of a triple-header, as we'll be going to Malaysia and then Singapore next.
Baku aerial view
Photo by: Sutton Images
