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The second free practice session in Azerbaijan saw some yellow flags and fast qualifying simulations.
What happened in FP1 in Azerbaijan?
FP1 was eventful, with three red flags and a tight fight at the top. Haas’ Oliver Bearman returned, replacing the suspended Kevin Magnussen. Drivers struggled with grip early on, including Valtteri Bottas at Turn One.
Debris, Charles Leclerc’s crash, and Franco Colapinto’s incident halted the session multiple times. Leclerc briefly topped the timesheets before crashing. Max Verstappen led most of the session and reclaimed the top spot late, finishing three-tenths faster than Lewis Hamilton, with McLaren’s Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri close behind.
Green flag for FP2
The time lost in FP1 due to the red flags had to be made up in FP2. That’s why all the drivers except Gasly, Albon, Ocon, Colapinto and Russell went out on track immediately.
Charles Leclerc radioed after the first few metres on the track that he did not feel comfortable in his repaired Ferrari:
“Check front left to right, it feels heavy on one side compared to the other.”
Nevertheless, he set the first fast time on medium tyres with a 1:45.812.
However, this time was quickly beaten by Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez. The Mexican driver set a time of 1:44.598.
Yuki Tsunoda surprised with a fast lap that was +1.050 slower than Perez’s time, but initially put him in P3.
Charles Leclerc entered the pits after a few more laps because he thought the steering wheel or track was displaced.
Russell hadn’t come out yet, and it looked like he would be delayed for a while as Mercedes completed a precautionary engine change for the British driver.
First 10 minutes of FP2 complete and Lewis is out on track on the Hard tyre.
George’s car is still in the garage after a precautionary Power Unit change but we hope to have him out around the half-way mark on this session pic.twitter.com/4Z5eOdCZcW
— Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team (@MercedesAMGF1) September 13, 2024
The yellow flags briefly came out as Verstappen had a moment at Turn 5. He moved again without any visible damage to his car, keeping it out of the barriers. Verstappen locked up but not early enough to use the escape road, sliding to a stop just inches from the barrier.
In the meantime, Carlos Sainz set the fastest lap with a 1:44.323, just under three-hundredths of a second faster than Perez.
The first qualifying simulations
With little over 30 minutes on the clock, the first drivers strapped on the soft tyres to test qualifying laps.
Norris was on a fast lap but encountered a slow-moving Gasly, which ruined his run, otherwise he would’ve set the new fastest lap.
A slipstream is great, until there's a car in the way ?
Norris catches Gasly's Alpine on a flying lap and has to abort in the final sector.#F1 #AzerbaijanGP pic.twitter.com/CYr9JcNo8Q
— Formula 1 (@F1) September 13, 2024
Track evolution played a major role in the fast laps – Perez’s time of 1:43.490 was almost half a second faster than second-placed Carlos Sainz.
Leclerc and Russell still hadn’t completed a flying lap on soft tyres, while the rest of the grid had done so. Perez topped the timesheets, just 0.060s ahead of Hamilton, who managed his best lap despite running on seven laps old soft tyres.
Sainz sat in third, with Piastri, Verstappen, and Stroll close behind.
Looking at the rookies, it was clear that Bearman and Colapinto were keeping pace well with the rest of the field. Colapinto also had brief contact with the wall in FP2 but could continue the session. Bearman was able to keep up well with the times of his part-time teammate Hülkenberg.
Sergio Perez continued his strong pace and set a new fastest time of 1:43.490.
The final minutes
As the track continued to improve and gain grip, Leclerc was expected to set the fastest time. He posted a 1m 43.484s, just 0.006s ahead of Perez, though he did benefit from a tow during his flying lap.
Russell had previously only been out on the hard tyres, but with only seven minutes left, he did his first laps on the soft tyres. He set a time that put him in 9th place.
Final results
- Leclerc
- Perez
- Hamilton
- Sainz
- Piastri
- Verstappen
- Stroll
- Hülkenberg
- Russell
- Bearman
- Tsunoda
- Alonso
- Albon
- Colapinto
- Bottas
- Ricciardo
- Norris
- Gasly
- Ocon
- Zhou
Feature Image Credit: Natalia KOLESNIKOVA / AFP via Getty Images