Baku, September 13, AZERTAC

Max Verstappen left it late to set the pace during opening practice for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, as last year’s pole-sitter Charles Leclerc crashed out in his Ferrari, according to the Formula 1 official website.

Leclerc, winner last time out in Italy, is something of a Baku street circuit specialist, having taken pole in each of the last three years at the venue.

However, he clipped the dirt on the outside of the approach to Turn 15 and slid into the wall, bringing out the red flags and ending his session with 30 minutes to go.

When they switched their attention to the soft tires – which are the C5 for Baku, the softest in Pirelli’s range – it was Red Bull’s Verstappen who was quickest. The Dutchman clocked a 1m 45.546s at the death to move ahead of Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton by 0.313s.

It was a much more assured session for Red Bull, who were running a small upgrade to the floor, compared to Monza with Perez slotting into third late on, 0.376s adrift of Verstappen.

McLaren’s Lando Norris was fourth, ahead of Carlos Sainz in the Ferrari and the second McLaren of Oscar Piastri was sixth.

Daniel Ricciardo completed the top-10, a second quicker than RB team mate Yuki Tsunoda who complained about a significant amount of bouncing.

Franco Colapinto, competing in only his second FP2 session, was showing an impressive turn of speed but the Williams driver couldn’t catch a little snap at Turn 4 and slid into the wall. That brought out the red flag for the third time (the first was to clear debris while the second was required to clear Leclerc’s stricken Ferrari and repair the barrier).

Colapinto was classified 16th, a fraction ahead of Alex Albon who had a little trip down the escape road at Turn 4 but kept it out of the barriers.

Formula 1 Qatar Airways Azerbaijan Grand Prix 2024 Practice 1 results are as follows: