Verstappen takes a dominant first in the only FP session this weekend
General
Max Verstappen took first place in the only free practice session at the Azerbaijan Gand Prix this weekend, the perfect preparation for qualifying later today.
Perfect Preparation for Rapid Red Bull
In an F1 weekend that has changed drastically by the news of a changing F1 sprint race weekend, it was an experimental and dramatic free practice session.
It was a positive session for the Ferraris too, as they finally had something to cheer about, as Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz were second and fourth, respectively. Sergio Perez split the two Prancing Horses in third place.
Sprint Race Weekend Changes
Because of the changes to the sprint race weekend format, free practices two and three were dropped, with qualifying for the race replacing free practice two on Friday. On Saturday, qualifying for the sprint race and then the sprint race itself will be the sessions on track, with Sunday then being the Grand Prix day as it usually would be.
With that being the case, it meant that teams and drivers needed to make use of every available second in this free practice session to test the new track surface and their own setups, with the rest of the weekend schedule being extremely tight on time.
Hectic preparation for drivers
Drivers struggled with brakes on a new surface at the Baku City Circuit, especially the Mercedes’ of George Russell and Lewis Hamilton, as they reported early issues with the brakes. Many other drivers also struggled, as there were many yellow flags for drivers that went deep into turns one and seven, with Yuki Tsunoda clipping the wall and getting a puncture in a hectic opening ten minutes of FP1.
It was a nightmare session from Alpine, following on from their Australian nightmare. Pierre Gasly was forced to pull over and retire after an engine failure and subsequent fire, leading to a red flag after 20 minutes, coupled up with an engine failure for Kevin Magnussen at turn one.
Gasly’s teammate Esteban Ocon was also forced to retire, as his car was taken into the garage and taken apart as the French team tried to find the issue that caused Ocon to stop.
There were also a couple of surprises as the chequered flag fell, highlighted by McLaren and Lando Norris finishing in fifth place on the soft tyres, preparing brilliantly for qualifying later today with their newly upgraded car.