Max Verstappen has ended the first practice session in Baku on top. The Dutchman set a lap time of 1:44.410. Red Bull set its fastest times on the super soft tyre while the two Ferrari's and the Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton set their times on the soft tyre.
Daniel Ricciardo followed his teammate in P2 with a lap time that was almost half a second slower. Former Red Bull man Sebastian Vettel ended up in third place but set his fastest lap on the soft tyre, which is relatively slower than the super soft.
Sergio Perez popped up into fourth position but will have his session overshadowed by a hefty crash. The Mexican appeared to carry too much speed into the entrance of the narrow turn 8 and hit the wall, with the right rear tyre worryingly detaching itself from the car.
RED FLAG ?
— Formula 1 (@F1) ___Escaped_link_66221f64509c0___
PER hits the wall at the narrow section at Turn 8 and the session is halted while the track is cleared___Escaped_link_66221f64509bb___ ___Escaped_link_66221f64509be___ ?? pic.twitter.com/gMJiWcZBLR
Perez's teammate Esteban Ocon ended the session in seventh, as the Frenchman comes to terms with the Baku circuit which he is driving for the first time. Sandwiched in between the two Force India were the two Mercedes' of Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas, who's fastest laps claimed fifth and sixth respectively.
Felipa Massa was eighth in his Williams, while the other Martini sponsored vehicle of Lance Stroll was eleventh. The second Ferrari of Kimi Raikkonen also set his fastest lap on the slower soft tyre and ended up in P9, while Toro Rosso's Daniil Kvyat completed the top 10.
The two Haas cars followed Stroll in eleventh, as Kevin Magnussen settled into twelfth and Romain Grosjean planting himself into thirteenth. Grosjean was once again heard complaining about his brakes which have been giving him trouble for much of his time at Haas.
Nico Hulkenberg was fourteenth, ahead of the McLaren of Stoffel Vandoorne. Both McLaren's seemed to get through the session without any major issues, as Vandoorne and teammate Fernando Alonso set 42 laps between them. Alonso's fastest time put him in P17.
Lodged between the two McLaren was Carlos Sainz, who has a penalty hanging over his head for this weekend's race. The Spaniard made contact with Romain Grosjean in Canada which put Sainz in a spin and sent him catapulting towards Felipe Massa. Both men retired and Sainz received a three-place grid penalty which will be applied to his finishing position in tomorrow's qualifying session.
Jolyon Palmer was eighteenth, ahead of the two Sauber's of Pascal Wehrlein and Marcus Ericsson who completed the field. Practice two in Baku comes at 14:00 UK time, which is 17:00 local time.
Almost half a second quicker than anyone else in #FP1@Max33Verstappen tops the charts in Baku #AzerbaijanGP #F1Baku ?? pic.twitter.com/gkSuvyvLZw
— Formula 1 (@F1) June 23, 2017
Fergal Walsh
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Bahrain International Circuit - Winter testing
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Posts: 1,804
I expect RB's pace to falter as the weekend goes on, but looking good to stay ahead of Force India