The Friday in F1 Azerbaijan GP saw McLaren’s train getting derailed in FP2 due to multiple issues, as Ferrari put their right foot forward amid disruptions.
It was not smooth sail for anyone in F1 Azerbaijan GP at Baku City Circuit. Several drivers were involved in offs at various corners which is common for this track. There was barrier brush as well for a lot of drivers, including a session-ending one for McLaren’s Lando Norris in FP2.
He made contact on the right side at Turn 2 and on the same lap touched the cement wall at Turn 4 on the left side, which bent his car. That ended his session, but he was still in the Top 10 after topping FP1. Teammate Oscar Piastri did not enjoy the second session as well after multiple hits.
He finished out the Top 10 in FP2 after finishing second in FP1. Even though the McLaren F1 pair had troubles, no one is counting them out for the rest of the weekend. Outside the two, Ferrari enjoyed a better Friday, especially in the second session where Lewis Hamilton led Charles Leclerc.
The Brit said they fixed his brake issues in FP2, which helped him extract more from the car, whereas the Monegasque went through his programme without much fuss. Red Bull’s Max Verstappen felt good after the run, even though he didn’t set the standings alight in either of the running.
Teammate Yuki Tsunoda felt better on the long run which has been ailing him for sometime now. At Mercedes, they went for tactics as per George Russell. Neither him nor Andrea Kimi Antonelli ran anything other than soft compound, as they aim to use the medium tyre in qualifying.
Norris: “A costly one, especially here. It was feeling good until then. I’d rather have this and push and find the limits, than not find the limits at all. [But it’s] annoying. I would have liked to get some high fuel laps in, especially on these tyres – the softer compound compared to last year – but it is what it is, and I’ll have to make up for it. The track is very different to last year, it’s quite a lot quicker, and it’s a softer [tyre] compound which we don’t use that often. We use it at Monaco, Imola… I think that’s it. I’m behind on the learnings now, but a scrappy session from both my side and Oscar’s side. He seemed to be struggling a bit with the car as well, but we’ll see what we can make up for tomorrow.”
Piastri: “A bit tricky, yeah. Just a bit up and down. I think the pace is there, it’s just not the easiest to get the most out of it at the moment, so that’s probably just the main thing. We tried a few things in FP2, I’m sure we will look back and see what we can change for tomorrow, but I think it’s going to be a bit different with tyre choices and things like that. I think there’s still a lot of positives from today, just a few tricky moments.”
Hamilton: “It really has [been] – thank the Lord! It wasn’t so positive [early on]… I would say [Free Practice 1] was a bit of a mess. This is a circuit where you have to have mega confidence on the brakes, and I had some problems with the brakes. Also, every track I’m going to is the first time driving the Ferrari at that circuit, so acclimatising to that is not easy. We made some changes going into [FP2] and the brakes finally were working perfectly. I was able to really make some big advantages in terms of gaining on the brakes. I’m really happy to see the progress and it just goes to show the direction we’ve been going as a team.
“I’m really, really grateful for everyone’s patience and everyone pushing so hard, because we’re really starting to see the progress come through. It’s just practice day. I’d say let’s not go too far. I just want to say that I really am grateful for everyone continuing to push, the support I’ve been getting back from everyone at the factory, everyone here, their patience, their support, every weekend just lifting me up… the guys in the garage, all of our marketing team – they’re really making a big difference. Then the Tifosi, we’ve been beaming from the energy from the Tifosi in the last race [at Monza] – I’m hoping to take that energy that they gave us all the way through the rest of the season.”
Verstappen: “It wasn’t too bad today. Building up to it, the car felt quite good which was positive for us. We found a stable balance and this needs to be quite particular for the layout of this track. Everything needs to come together to produce a good lap and we are still working to find more on the one lap and to gain more confidence. We are fine tuning little bits and hopefully tomorrow the car will be better. The long runs felt okay, it is always going to be slippery around here and tough on the tyres with the softer compounds, but it is not too bad. Ferrari are always pretty fast around here and I do expect a few things to be close. It will all come down to driving a perfect lap in Qualifying or getting your tyres in a good window. With such a long straight you can get lucky with a tow as well.”
Russell: “That was an encouraging Friday for us here in Azerbaijan. We opted to complete our programme on the Soft compound only today and that made judging our overall limitations a little more tricky than usual. It is a long lap in Baku and the rear tyres are often suffering, particularly in the final sector. With the softest compounds in the range being used here, we knew the C6 would struggle to hold on throughout. With that said, we still ended the day in the top four in both sessions and know we’ve still got further improvements we can make.
“We also carry all our sets of the C5 Medium tyre into the rest of the weekend, and we hope that will be an advantage for us over some of our competitors. I am now looking forward to resting up tonight, getting back to 100 per cent, and coming back strong for the rest of the weekend. We know it will once again be tight with our competitors, with Ferrari looking impressive and McLaren not yet showing their hand. If we can build on today though, then there’s no reason we can’t be in the fight for the podium on race day.”
The Top 10 saw Haas’ Oliver Bearman do well along with teammate Esteban Ocon. They looked to have good pace amongst the midfield F1 teams, where Williams seems to be in a decent spot as well. The soft compound troubled both Alexander Albon and Carlos Sainz for the short run.
It will be a gamble of tyre as per Sainz, who echoed Russell’s statements. Visa Cash App RB’s Liam Lawson found himself in the Top 10 after a good run, but Isack Hadjar struggled to make it through. The Frenchman noted that he understood his shortcoming, which will be crucial to work on in FP3.
The Sauber F1 pair of Nico Hulkenberg and Gabriel Bortoleto felt decent across the sessions, but Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso & Lance Stroll and Alpine’s Pierre Gasly & Franco Colapinto, were left to find more pace in a bid to make it through to Q2 and also Q3.
Bearman: “On the face of it, the lap time was very good. We’ve had a good car, honestly, all day. We were struggling a bit with top speed in FP1, but we’ve managed to improve that a bit in FP2, and we look to be in the fight. I hope so. I had a good feeling with the car, which is always the most important thing. I was struggling with a few issues out there – the brakes were not the best. We’ve got some work to do overnight to make sure we get it all together for Qualifying.”
Sainz: “Interesting day for us today. FP1 was quite messy and we were caught out constantly by yellow flags. FP2 however was a better session and I’m happy with our long runs. We seem to struggle again with the softer compound so we need to keep looking for something more for Quali. I think tomorrow the Soft and Medium tyres are going to be extremely close, so we might see different approaches and this will spice things up in Qualifying.”
Hadjar: “It didn’t feel great out there today. I’ve been struggling to find the limits of the car, it’s still very inconsistent, and my own driving needs work as well, especially in Sector 2. I have a clear idea of the changes I want to make to the car setup and the areas I need to improve on my side. I’m feeling quite confident for tomorrow, and hopefully we can reach Q3.”
Alonso: “It’s always a fun challenge around this tight and fast circuit. Looking at the lap-times it appears we still have some pace to find this weekend. You need to balance downforce and drag at this track and that’s where we need to improve. Let’s see what we can find overnight.”
Bortoleto: “Overall, it was a decent day, despite the tricky conditions. Several drivers went straight into the run-off – I had a couple of those moments too – but that’s just part of pushing to the edge. As a positive, we learned a lot about our limits, and that gives us something solid to build on ahead of Quali. I’m feeling good about the work we can do tonight and I’m looking forward to seeing what we can achieve tomorrow.”
Gasly: “This is definitely one of those tracks which gets your attention right from the very first lap. It is a place where you need to have some patience and build up the speed and confidence bit by bit, especially the first few laps when the track is not in its best shape. Still, it is a real thrill with such high-speed. It is not an easy track for us and we knew that going into the race weekend. We know what we need to work on and we will try and optimise what we have in our hands. Today we tried different set-ups and different wing levels to see what the best direction is to take. I think we have found the areas to work on so we will aim to find improvements in Free Practice 3 ahead of Qualifying.”
Here’s how Friday in F1 Azerbaijan GP panned out
