F1 Grand Prix practice results: Leclerc fastest in Azerbaijan GP on Friday

Red Bull’s Monaco winner Sergio Perez was fastest in FP1 but was beaten in FP2 by Leclerc, who was almost a quarter of a second quicker than the Mexican.

Azerbaijan Grand Prix FP1 results: Perez fastest from Leclerc

Cla	Driver	Chassis	Laps	Time	Gap	Interval	km/h
1	Sergio Perez	Red Bull	21	1'45.476			204.888
2	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	21	1'45.603	0.127	0.127	204.641
3	Max Verstappen	Red Bull	25	1'45.810	0.334	0.207	204.241
4	Carlos Sainz	Ferrari	22	1'46.012	0.536	0.202	203.852
5	Fernando Alonso	Alpine	22	1'46.571	1.095	0.559	202.783
6	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	21	1'46.667	1.191	0.096	202.600
7	Yuki Tsunoda	AlphaTauri	25	1'46.696	1.220	0.029	202.545
8	George Russell	Mercedes	24	1'46.705	1.229	0.009	202.528
9	Pierre Gasly	AlphaTauri	25	1'46.830	1.354	0.125	202.291
10	Esteban Ocon	Alpine	21	1'46.917	1.441	0.087	202.126
11	Lando Norris	McLaren	19	1'47.691	2.215	0.774	200.674
12	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin	24	1'47.847	2.371	0.156	200.383
13	Kevin Magnussen	Haas	24	1'47.946	2.470	0.099	200.200
14	Sebastian Vettel	Aston Martin	22	1'47.970	2.494	0.024	200.155
15	Valtteri Bottas	Alfa Romeo	22	1'48.078	2.602	0.108	199.955
16	Zhou Guanyu	Alfa Romeo	24	1'48.222	2.746	0.144	199.689
17	Alex Albon	Williams	22	1'48.419	2.943	0.197	199.326
18	Daniel Ricciardo	McLaren	22	1'48.810	3.334	0.391	198.610
19	Nicholas Latifi	Williams	7	1'50.921	5.445	2.111	194.830
20	Mick Schumacher	Haas	3	1'58.332	12.856	7.411	182.628
View full results

What happened in Azerbaijan GP Free Practice 1?

Red Bull’s world championship leader Max Verstappen set the early pace on mediums at 1m46.477s on mediums, 0.068s ahead of Perez. Ferrari initially ran the hard tyre, with Leclerc in P3 but over half a second off the pace.

After switching to softs, Verstappen lowered the bar to 1m45.810s before Perez set the fastest time of the session with 1m45.476s, a third of a second quicker.

Leclerc then split the Red Bulls with a 1m45.603s, 0.127s off Perez. Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz was fourth, over half a second off, while Fernando Alonso was best of the rest for Alpine, albeit 1.095s off the pace.

Verstappen, whose DRS flap was fluttering wildly when open, suffered a late spin at Turn 15.

The session was interrupted by two virtual safety cars, the first for Mick Schumacher’s Haas – which poured its coolants on to the track when a water hose broke – and, later on, Nicholas Latifi’s Williams ground to a halt at Turn 5 after its electrics died and also needed retrieving.

The Turn 4 run-off was visited by Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) and Lance Stroll (Aston Martin), and the latter also clipped the wall at the exit of Turn 15 early on. AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly also suffered a huge lock-up but didn’t hit anything.

Azerbaijan Grand Prix FP2 results: Leclerc fastest from Perez

Cla	Driver	Chassis	Laps	Time	Gap	Interval	km/h
1	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	24	1'43.224			209.358
2	Sergio Perez	Red Bull	22	1'43.472	0.248	0.248	208.856
3	Max Verstappen	Red Bull	18	1'43.580	0.356	0.108	208.638
4	Fernando Alonso	Alpine	22	1'44.142	0.918	0.562	207.512
5	Carlos Sainz	Ferrari	25	1'44.274	1.050	0.132	207.250
6	Pierre Gasly	AlphaTauri	26	1'44.315	1.091	0.041	207.168
7	George Russell	Mercedes	26	1'44.548	1.324	0.233	206.706
8	Yuki Tsunoda	AlphaTauri	24	1'44.567	1.343	0.019	206.669
9	Esteban Ocon	Alpine	24	1'44.609	1.385	0.042	206.586
10	Lando Norris	McLaren	23	1'44.771	1.547	0.162	206.267
11	Sebastian Vettel	Aston Martin	27	1'44.781	1.557	0.010	206.247
12	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	25	1'44.874	1.650	0.093	206.064
13	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin	26	1'44.874	1.650	0.000	206.064
14	Daniel Ricciardo	McLaren	25	1'45.059	1.835	0.185	205.701
15	Valtteri Bottas	Alfa Romeo	25	1'45.115	1.891	0.056	205.591
16	Zhou Guanyu	Alfa Romeo	24	1'45.264	2.040	0.149	205.300
17	Kevin Magnussen	Haas	26	1'45.588	2.364	0.324	204.670
18	Alex Albon	Williams	13	1'46.397	3.173	0.809	203.114
19	Mick Schumacher	Haas	21	1'46.425	3.201	0.028	203.061
20	Nicholas Latifi	Williams	26	1'47.218	3.994	0.793	201.559
View full results

What happened in Azerbaijan GP Free Practice 2?

All teams ran the medium tyre at the start of the session, with Leclerc setting the initial bar at 1m43.806s, 0.03s ahead of Verstappen, with Perez another tenth slower.

Leclerc switched to softs and unleased 1m43.224s. Sainz was on a potentially faster lap but locked up at Turn 16 and ran wide, ruining his soft-tyre run.

Perez was 0.248s slower than Leclerc after his first attempt but went off at Turn 1 on his second push lap. Leclerc then locked up and overshot Turn 8.

Perez went off again, this time botching the laps of Verstappen and Sainz who were running behind him. Verstappen finally got a lap in on well-used softs but stayed third from a soft-shod Alonso in fourth. Sainz was fifth, relying on his earlier medium-tyre time, ahead of Gasly.

Leclerc reported a loss of power in the closing minutes of his long run but the team reassured him it was fine.

Haas’s Kevin Magnussen ran straight on at Turn 3, while Alex Albon smacked a wall and damaged the right-front corner of his Williams. Schumacher ran long at Turn 4, as did Stroll and Sainz at Turn 15.