After a thrilling race in Monza that saw Charles Leclerc take his second Italian Grand Prix victory in front of the Ferrari faithful, Formula 1 returns for round 17 of the championship in Azerbaijan, the first of the final flyaway races of the season.
Max Verstappen holds a 62-point lead over Lando Norris in the drivers’ championship, though Red Bull will be under pressure from McLaren, with just eight points separating the two teams. Meanwhile, Ollie Bearman steps in to replace Kevin Magnussen, who is forced to miss the weekend due to a race ban.
Conditions in Baku are hot and sunny, though the drivers will have to contend with high winds and a dirty, dusty street track. Drivers take to the track straight away—Alpine has opted to start the day on hards, while mediums are the tyre of choice for the majority of the grid.
Oscar Piastri confirms the track “feels very, very low grip.” Leclerc sets the pace early on with a 1:48.340 on mediums. Ten minutes in, Hamilton improves with a 1:47.618, while Piastri’s time is also good enough to relegate Leclerc to third.
Hamilton reports that his seat is “very hot,” something both Mercedes drivers complained about last time out in Monza as well. Piastri complains about bottoming, with Stroll also voicing his displeasure with a curt “This is not a car right now.”
Verstappen with a 1:47.214 on mediums, from Leclerc, Hamilton the top three at the moment. The session is paused around thirteen minutes in as a marshal is deployed to retrieve some debris.
FP1 is a go at 13:47 local time. With 39 minutes left on the clock, Alpine’s Esteban Ocon reports a loss of power and limps back to the pits.
Carlos Sainz briefly brings out a yellow flag as he reverses out of an escape road after an unfortunate lockup at Turn 7.
A yellow flag turns red as Leclerc carries too much speed into the corner and finds the wall in Turn 15 at the halfway point, with marshals moving to retrieve the stricken Ferrari and fix up the barrier. Prior to his crash Leclerc was topping the timesheet with a 1:46.608 on mediums ahead of Verstappen and Norris.
The session is expected to resume at 14:04 local time. It’s confirmed that Ocon has a power unit problem that will likely need to be addressed before the upcoming session. Ocon, along with Leclerc, will miss the remainder of FP1.
With 20 minutes remaining, a few of the drivers have opted to switch to softs. Perez shoots to the top of the pile on used softs, with a 1:46:586, only to be pushed down by Piastri and then Norris, who smashes Perez’s time with a 1:46.027.
Another yellow flag in sector 1, which quickly turns into the third red flag of the session as Colapinto loses the rear on entry and takes the wall at Turn 4.
Meanwhile, Hamilton has quietly stolen the top spot from Norris, being the first driver to clock a lap below ‘46 in this session with a 1:45.859 on softs.
The session is green flagged again with just over ten minutes remaining.
Hamilton is starting the weekend off strong, flying to the top of the timesheet yet again this session with a 1:45.859. With five minutes of running left, Verstappen slots into second, with Norris completing the top three.
Much like Sainz earlier, Albon bails and explores the run-off area before safely rejoining. Yet another yellow flag is waved at sector 1 as replays show Russell being the latest driver to go wide. Meanwhile, Tsunoda is heard reporting: “My car is bouncing like hell.”
A mighty final lap from Verstappen sends him to the top of the timesheets right at the close of the opening session: 1:45.546 on softs. Hamilton splits the Red Bull drivers, with Perez third. Norris follows in fourth, while Sainz has a brush with the wall, but survives to finish the session fifth fastest. Piastri sits in sixth, with Alonso, Russell, Leclerc and Ricciardo rounding out the top 10.
