#AzerbaijanGP FP2: @CharlesLeclerc tops time-sheets ahead of @RedBullRacing duo. #F1 #BakuGP

Leclerc Azerbaijan GP FP2 – Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc was fastest in FP2 at the Azerbaijan GP in-front of Red Bull duo Sergio Perez and title-rival Max Verstappen.

 

 

Big gains in sectors one and two from the opening practice stint stormed Leclerc up the classification, as he hit a 1:43.224 on his qualifying simulation effort.

 

This gave the Monegasque driver a 0.248 advantage over FP1 pace-setter Perez and Verstappen once again was the slowest of the Red Bull pairing whilst BWT Alpine F1 Team’s Fernando Alonso pushed to an impressive fourth place on the time-sheets.

 

For the cooler and less windy evening on the streets of Baku, Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz lead Alpine’s Esteban Ocon to the end of the pit-lane as they waited 15 seconds for the session to go green.

 

On the Red Bull RB18 entries remained in their garage after the opening three minutes of running, with all drivers opting first for the C4 yellow-marked medium tyres whilst the McLaren duo started on the C3 white-branded harder rubber.

 

Sainz was the initial driver to set the benchmark of a 1:46.705 to lead Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel by 1.2 seconds as Ocon was third.

 

But Alonso moved rapidly to the top of the order as Alpine yet again posted a solid sector three – with the Spaniard setting a 1:46.673 to go 0.6 seconds clear.

 

As the times continued to tumble, AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda and then Mercedes’ Sir Lewis Hamilton – massively boosted by a slip-stream from Perez down the main-straight – enjoyed momentarily spells in P1.

 

At the 11th-minute mark Perez’s 1:45.476 benchmark from the earlier session was eclipsed, with Sainz lowering it to a 1:45.118 on the mediums.

 

This put the Spaniard 1.2 seconds clear over the porpoising F1 W13 of Hamilton before Perez split the difference in second and Alfa Zhou Guanyu jumped to third.

 

But the session then turned to Ferrari’s favour as setup tweaks to the F1-75’s began to pay off through the opening half of the lap – Leclerc bringing the times down even lower to a 1:43.806.

 

The turn of speed wowed Hamilton as he said “what the?” over the radio when he jumped to tenth and was informed of his 2.4 deficit to Leclerc.

 

As the Baku City Circuit offered up massive gains, and fitted with a slim rear wing for his A522 racer, double world champion Alonso slotted into second in the order – with a second to find to Leclerc.

 

15 minutes of the hour-long session had passed before reigning world champion Verstappen, emerged with Red Bull attending to his rear wing following his earlier FP1 DRS problem as the flap wobbled at high speed.

 

His first effort however, saw the Dutchman 0.656 adrift of title-rival Leclerc’s benchmark time.

 

Running out of sync with his rivals after his time spent in the garage, Verstappen’s next flyer brought the gap down to only three-hundredths thanks to his 1:43.836.

 

But Leclerc came out on a set of C5 red softs with 33 minutes remaining to complete his qualifying simulation run.

 

The Ferrari driver clocked a 1:43.224, which at the time moved him 0.612 seconds clear despite losing two-tenths through the flat-out sector three.

 

The Red Bull’s charged to get themselves under the 1:43’s range, however, Perez was 0.248 seconds slower and Verstappen a further 0.356 off the Monegasque youngster before switching to longer runs.

 

Both Red Bull drivers and Sainz then struggled in the closing stages, as the trio aborted corners and ran into the run-off areas.

 

Alonso remained in fourth on the time-sheets, ahead of Sainz who backed off of his potentially fast qualifying simulation run in sector three to cover his true pace.

 

Scuderia AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly and Tsunoda were sixth and eighth respectively as Mercedes’ George Russell split the pairing in seventh place.

 

Ocon ended FP2 in-front of McLaren’s Lando Norris to round out the top ten, with the latter having started the session with a five-point-turn to recover from a turn three run down the escape road after suffering a lock-up.

 

Aston Martin’s Vettel finished FP2 outside the top ten in 11th with his team-mate Lance Stroll taking 13th as Hamilton split the pairing in his Mercedes taking 12th, whilst McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo placed 14th.

 

Alfa Romeo F1 Team ORLEN’s Valtteri Bottas and Zhou were 15th and 16th respectively and in-front of Haas F1 Team’s Kevin Magnussen who took 17th in the order.

 

Williams Racing’s Alexander Albon and Nicholas Latifi ended the session in 18th and at the rear respectively with Haas F1 Team’s Mick Schumacher splitting the duo in 19th.

 

Albon’s session was notable for unusually hitting the inside-wall through the flat-out turn 17 right hand kink after correcting his steering point upon entry.

 

You can see the full Formula 1 Azerbaijan Grand Prix 2022 Free Practice 2 Results Classification at the link: https://www.formula1.com/en/results.html/2022/races/1126/azerbaijan/practice-2.html

 

---

Catch up on the Earlier FP1 session and this weekend’s race preview at the links below:

 

#AzerbaijanGP FP1: @SChecoPerez quickest ahead of @CharlesLeclerc. #F1 #BakuGP

#Formula1 #AzerbaijanGrandPrix 2022 Preview. #F1 #AzerbaijanGP