The Azerbaijan weekend was officially under way in Baku, with the start of the first free practice session on Friday.
It was the Red Bulls who went to the top of the timesheet after the opening laps: world championship leader Max Verstappen did a 1:48.574, which was nearly a second faster than his team-mate Sergio Perez in second.
More problems for Ferrari junior Mick Schumacher after just a few minutes from the start of the session, as his Haas car suffered a technical issue, sending him off at Turn 12. The green flags were waving after Mick’s car was cleared from the track as the drivers were free to return to full speed out there.
Max Verstappen took full advantage of the clear track and improved his leading time by almost two seconds. Sergio Perez also improved but was still nearly a full second behind his team-mate, as the Ferrari car had not yet unleash their pace. Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz opted for the hard tyre for this first Practice session, the majority of the grid going for the medium.
It wasn’t just Mercedes who were suffering with bouncing issues here, as Ferrari also seemed to be struggling with some porpoising. One team that clearly wasn’t having those issues though was Red Bull and sadly that will certainly help them with Baku’s long and fast straights.
Ferrari looked as though they were finding their groove with Charles Leclerc getting within a tenth of Max Verstappen, but the world championship leader improved to go 0.5s clear of his title rival. The other Red Bull of Sergio Perez also improved to sit within a tenth of his teammate. In the second part of FP1 Ferrari started to chip away and after running near the bottom of the top ten, Carlos Sainz jumped to fourth sitting +0.536s behind new leader Sergio Perez. Charles Leclerc was two hundredths quicker than his teammate but the Red Bull cars still led the way.
Lewis Hamilton’s race engineer ‘Bono’ jumped on Team Radio to remind the driver to be careful when completing the lap and having four wheels across the pit entry line. Despite it being such an uncomfortable drive, Lewis Hamilton was clearly working hard and moved up to fifth (+1.191) behind Sergio Perez, Charles Leclerc, Max Verstappen and Carlos Sainz.
Sergio Perez’s good form therefore continued and he finished Practice One at the top of the timesheet on a track where he knows how to end the race on the podium. It was a familiar sight just behind him, with Charles Leclerc just +0.127s behind, Max Verstappen then in third followed by Carlos Sainz in fourth.
So far, the Red Bull v Ferrari battle continues, with others over a second behind.
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