#F1 #AzerbaijanGP FP1: @Max33Verstappen quickest as @CharlesLeclerc, #Colapinto crashes.

Hamilton Azerbaijan GP FP1 – Championship leader Max Verstappen was quickest in a red flag disrupted FP1 session at the Azerbaijan GP pipping Mercedes’ Sir Lewis Hamilton at the end of the session as the former’s Red Bull team-mate Sergio Perez completed the top three. Last round’s Italian GP winner Charles Leclerc and Williams’ Franco Colapinto crashed out bringing out two of the three red flags in opening practice.

Verstappen posted the session-topping benchmark of a 1:45.546 on the C5 red side-walled softer compound and was 0.313 seconds quicker than Hamilton as Perez was a further 0.376 seconds adrift of his fellow Red Bull team-mate in third.

Baku’s high-speed street circuit layout provides low-grip at the best of times, but a light shower in the morning washed away the little grip the Formula 2 cars had attempted to lay down in their practice sessions.

After exiting the pits, McLaren’s Oscar Piastri said track conditions were “very, very low grip” on the 6.003km track.

It was thus no surprise that the initial lap times were six seconds slower than last season’s Free Practice 1 session, with Verstappen leading the way with an effort of a 1:47.214 on the C4 yellow-marked mediums, relegating earlier lap-times of Ferrari’s Leclerc and Mercedes’ Hamilton.

After 12 minutes of proceedings the initial red flag was brought out for a small piece of metal debris, which was a five-minute stoppage in the session.

Once the running went green, Verstappen wasted no time and lowered the benchmark to a 1:46.858 but was immediately ousted by Leclerc’s 1:46.808 all on medium rubber.

But Leclerc’s start to the weekend turned sour when the Ferrari driver whacked the wall at turn 15 before the mid-way point, damaging the front-right corner of his SF-24 racer and brought out the second red flag of the session.

On the team radio, Leclerc reported scooping up dirt, which caused his low-speed crashed, with replays showing his Ferrari dipping his front-right wheel off the racing line onto a dirtier part of the circuit, which lead to a lock-up.

The session returned to green with 26 minutes left on the clock, with most runners putting on the C5 red-branded softs.

Several drivers had their moments at the top of the leaderboard on Pirelli’s softest compound of the weekend including Red Bull’s Perez and McLaren’s Piastri and Lando Norris.

Hamilton was the latest driver to jump to the top of the pile posting a 1:45.859 before Williams’ Colapinto crashed and brought out the third red flag.

In his first ever time racing on the Baku City Circuit, the Argentine lost the rear of his FW46 racer into the tight turn four right-hander, with the back-end of his car hitting the outside wall, followed in by the front-left.

The session went green once more with 11 minutes remaining to allow a short window of soft-tyre stints.

Verstappen threatened to take over his 2021 title-rival Hamilton’s lead with two purple sectors but lost out on the straight towards the line to settle for a narrow second. But in the final moments, the Dutchman went again for another flyer and took three-tenths out of the seven-time world champion’s benchmark to top opening practice with a 1:45.546.

Verstappen’s Red Bull team-mate Perez ended up third, with the Dutchman’s closest title-challenger Norris fourth in the order.

The other Ferrari SF-24 entry of Carlos Sainz, who escaped a close off-track excursion at turn seven without damage, took fifth and ahead of Piastri and Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso.

Mercedes’ George Russell was eighth as the aforementioned Leclerc and RB’s Daniel Ricciardo rounded out the top ten.

MoneyGram Haas F1 Team’s Oliver Bearman (in place of the one-race-banned Kevin Magnussen) for the weekend and Nico Hulkenberg ended the session outside the top ten in 11^th and 12^th place respectively whilst Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll and Sauber’s Valtteri Bottas followed in 13^th and 14^th.

RB’s Yuki Tsunoda took 15^th and in-front of Williams duo Alexander Albon and Colapinto who ended opening practice 16^th and 17^th respectively.

Alpine’s Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon were 18^th and at the rear respectively as Sauber’s Zhou Guanyu split the pairing in 19th.

Ocon saw his session end early after a suspected engine problem hit after just three tours.

You can see the full Formula 1 Qatar Airways Azerbaijan Grand Prix 2024 Free Practice 1 Results classification at the link: https://www.formula1.com/en/results/2024/races/1245/azerbaijan/practice/1

#F1 Qatar Airways #AzerbaijanGP 2024 Preview. #Formula1 #BakuGP

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