Sergio Perez led a one-two for Red Bull in second practice, while the highest-placed Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton was a lowly 11th.
Carlos Sainz Jnr and Charles Leclerc led for much of the session, initially looking the fastest on soft tyre runs. Perez and team mate Max Verstappen did their fastest runs later than most other cars, avoiding traffic problems that had dogged Verstappen during the morning session.Mercedes struggled throughout the session. Lewis Hamilton said after his first qualifying run that he didn’t “really know where the time is, to be honest.” He finished second practice 11th fastest, behind both AlphaTauris, both Alpine cars and Antonio Giovinazzi’s Alfa Romeo.
Valtteri Bottas seemed to struggle even more, unable to break the top ten times at any point during the session, as was also the case in first practice.
The session was red-flagged a quarter of an hour after it began when Nicholas Latifi stopped on track at turn 15. His car was retrieved cleanly and the session restarted after a seven-minute break but turn 15 claimed several others over the hour-long session.
Bottas and Pierre Gasly were among those who visited the run-off there. Leclerc also lost control through the corner, going straight and hitting the TecPro barrier, leaving his front wing behind. The Ferrari driver was able to return to the pits after a brief yellow flag, however.
Sainz ran into traffic with Nikita Mazepin, both accusing the other of ruining their lap and getting in the way but that was the only inter-car drama of the session.
Mick Schumacher suffered problem early on in proceedings, bringing him back into the pits after fewer than ten laps and only setting 12 across the whole hour.
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2021 Azerbaijan Grand Prix second practice result
Pos. | No. | Driver | Car | Best lap | Gap | Laps |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 11 | Sergio Perez | Red Bull-Honda | 1’42.115 | 21 | |
2 | 33 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull-Honda | 1’42.216 | 0.101 | 22 |
3 | 55 | Carlos Sainz Jnr | Ferrari | 1’42.243 | 0.128 | 24 |
4 | 16 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | 1’42.436 | 0.321 | 22 |
5 | 10 | Pierre Gasly | AlphaTauri-Honda | 1’42.534 | 0.419 | 26 |
6 | 14 | Fernando Alonso | Alpine-Renault | 1’42.693 | 0.578 | 24 |
7 | 99 | Antonio Giovinazzi | Alfa Romeo-Ferrari | 1’42.941 | 0.826 | 25 |
8 | 4 | Lando Norris | McLaren-Mercedes | 1’43.018 | 0.903 | 24 |
9 | 31 | Esteban Ocon | Alpine-Renault | 1’43.020 | 0.905 | 23 |
10 | 22 | Yuki Tsunoda | AlphaTauri-Honda | 1’43.130 | 1.015 | 25 |
11 | 44 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1’43.156 | 1.041 | 24 |
12 | 7 | Kimi Raikkonen | Alfa Romeo-Ferrari | 1’43.220 | 1.105 | 23 |
13 | 3 | Daniel Ricciardo | McLaren-Mercedes | 1’43.298 | 1.183 | 23 |
14 | 18 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin-Mercedes | 1’43.812 | 1.697 | 21 |
15 | 5 | Sebastian Vettel | Aston Martin-Mercedes | 1’43.881 | 1.766 | 22 |
16 | 77 | Valtteri Bottas | Mercedes | 1’44.184 | 2.069 | 22 |
17 | 63 | George Russell | Williams-Mercedes | 1’44.557 | 2.442 | 24 |
18 | 9 | Nikita Mazepin | Haas-Ferrari | 1’45.563 | 3.448 | 23 |
19 | 47 | Mick Schumacher | Haas-Ferrari | 1’46.095 | 3.980 | 11 |
20 | 6 | Nicholas Latifi | Williams-Mercedes | 1’46.983 | 4.868 | 5 |
Second practice visual gaps
Sergio Perez – 1’42.115
+0.101 Max Verstappen – 1’42.216
+0.128 Carlos Sainz Jnr – 1’42.243
+0.321 Charles Leclerc – 1’42.436
+0.419 Pierre Gasly – 1’42.534
+0.578 Fernando Alonso – 1’42.693
+0.826 Antonio Giovinazzi – 1’42.941
+0.903 Lando Norris – 1’43.018
+0.905 Esteban Ocon – 1’43.020
+1.015 Yuki Tsunoda – 1’43.130
+1.041 Lewis Hamilton – 1’43.156
+1.105 Kimi Raikkonen – 1’43.220
+1.183 Daniel Ricciardo – 1’43.298
+1.697 Lance Stroll – 1’43.812
+1.766 Sebastian Vettel – 1’43.881
+2.069 Valtteri Bottas – 1’44.184
+2.442 George Russell – 1’44.557
+3.448 Nikita Mazepin – 1’45.563
+3.980 Mick Schumacher – 1’46.095
+4.868 Nicholas Latifi – 1’46.983
Drivers more then ten seconds off the pace omitted.
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2021 Azerbaijan Grand Prix
- Aston Martin also confirms it followed Pirelli’s tyre restrictions before crash
- Pirelli confirm teams not to blame for Baku tyre failures following investigation
- “Tyres should not explode like that” says Villeneuve as Pirelli prepares to reveal findings
- Why Alonso is able to enjoy F1 more now than when he left
- Penalty for Safety Car error was just one of Latifi’s frustrations in Baku
Jelle van der Meer (@)
4th June 2021, 14:06
Brilliant – please let this be the result after Sunday’s race – which than obviously means some crazy stuff has happened.
Jere (@jerejj)
4th June 2021, 14:08
@jelle-van-der-meer, I wouldn’t mind this outcome either.
Jason Blankenship (@jblank)
4th June 2021, 17:15
Agreed! A competitive, fun race that isn’t decided on turn 1 of lap 1 would be awesome! May the racing gods continue the Merc suckage.
Esploratore (@esploratore)
4th June 2021, 18:05
Ahaha, indeed, making it clear that I don’t believe mercedes being competitive one bit, especially based on practice result, the only moment I will believe merc lack of pace is the first lap of q3, think even they aren’t gonna sandbag the first lap of q3.
Esploratore (@esploratore)
4th June 2021, 18:06
uncompetitive ofc*
hunocsi (@hunocsi)
4th June 2021, 14:07
Couldn’t follow FP2, it will be shown delayed where I live. Was it a messy session for Mercedes (and McLaren, they seemed fast in FP1) and couldn’t get a lap time in, or were they struggling for pace?
Jere (@jerejj)
4th June 2021, 14:08
@hunocsi A bit of both.
t1redmonkey (@t1redmonkey)
4th June 2021, 14:12
Merc race pace seemed strong enough so should be competitive for Sunday even if they don’t get pole on Saturday.
Wheel Nut (@wheel-nut)
4th June 2021, 14:11
All mercedes powered cars are at the bottom other than Haas. Duff set of engines?
Chris (@cgturbo)
4th June 2021, 14:14
Yeah, Lando the top Merc engine in 8th!
Chris (@cgturbo)
4th June 2021, 14:12
Seems like Ferrari will do well in qualifying, possibly a second row lockout if all things go well… But will go backwards in the race if they shred their tyres as much as Leclerc is suggesting.
Fingers crossed the Perez pace is genuine and give Max a but if fun during the race… Though hopefully not too much to give Max a de ja vu of the Ricciardo crash a few years ago!
Mike
4th June 2021, 14:24
Adding best sectors, their lap times are even. VER best in s1 & s2. Perez is 3 tenths faster in s3. Looks like Perez driving with less downforce or got a nicer tow on S3. VER’s lap on fresh softs was interupted due Lec crash. There were yellow flags in his 2nd attempt.
Srdjan Mandic (@srga91)
4th June 2021, 14:30
@cgturbo
Perhaps Ferrari’s low drag rear wing, which they ran during FP2, hurts them during longer runs and causes the drivers to slide more, because of a general lack of grip.
But Leclerc’s medium run was very odd. He started out fastest with a 1:46.6, then 47.9 and lost even more time after that. Even when he pitted and came out again it didn’t get any better, in fact it got far worse. During his final two laps he lost 3(!!!) seconds to the RBs in S1 alone! There must have been something horribly wrong with either his car or the tyre, because you don’t loose that much time after just a couple of laps and on a harder compound as well.
Srdjan Mandic (@srga91)
4th June 2021, 14:18
RB look seriously quick on their long runs, comfortably fastest with almost no degredation on the softs. I don’t see any other car getting close to them in the race.
Mercedes are a lot faster than they want us to think they are, but I doubt they can match RB.
Ferrari look seriously quick over a single lap and at the start of the long run stint, but had massive tyre problems (especially Leclerc) afterwards. If they can find a solution for these problems, they will be in the mix as well.
Barry Bens (@barryfromdownunder)
4th June 2021, 14:26
+1
Ferrari and Mercedes seem to struggle with deg but Ferrari having quite a bit more pace extracted on the friday. Surely Mercedes will find some (but Red Bull might have even more in the tank, Verstappen complained about the front despite going like a rocket).
What’s more: Red Bull took the safe approach on friday with the non-flex wing and it doesn’t seem to harm them that much. At least not looking at the gap between them and the rest. Imagine the gap if they also got that 0.6 seconds Hamilton claimed the bendy-wing brought.
Steven Van Langendonck
4th June 2021, 14:37
BTW did you see the flexing front wing of Mercedes?
At a certain moment they showed footage of a Mercedes (I think Bottas) just over the front wing.
You could easily see it flex down on the straight and coming back up during braking. If they file a complaint after the race this footage might turn up, I think.
Srdjan Mandic (@srga91)
4th June 2021, 14:37
Regarding high deg: Ferrari yes, Mercedes no
Mercedes had pretty consistent long runs on the mediums, just a couple of tenths slower than the RBs during their final few laps. They don’t seem to have any problems with degredation.
Ferrari on the other hand had massive problems with graining during Leclerc’s stint on the mediums. The tyre was done after 1.5 laps, which is very weird. They need to find a solution, because if they don’t, they might even drop out of the points on Sunday.
Johnny H.
4th June 2021, 14:32
All Mercedes powered cars got new engines this weekend and are suddenly down on pace. Are we witnessing a Mercedes downfall like the Ferrari engine saga a few years ago? Did the FIA found out something pre-Monaco GP?
erikje
4th June 2021, 14:37
Probably afraid for a renewed oil burning saga or just cautious with the new engine.
Fp3 will tell.
Tifoso1989 (@tifoso1989)
4th June 2021, 14:52
Johnny H.,
I don’t know about this weekend in particular but normally F1 team would play with hardware allocation fitting old components in Friday practise and the new ones in Saturday. We know that all Ferrari and Mercedes powered cars will use new engines this weekend but that doesn’t requires them to fit them starting from Friday practise sessions.
erikje
4th June 2021, 14:33
If this really will be the order on Sunday it’s important for Lewis to keep it cool and not make to many mistakes.
Only then he will be able to keep in contention. But the pressure is rising each race.
Interesting times in F1.
Esploratore (@esploratore)
4th June 2021, 18:16
Don’t think hamilton’s issue are mistakes, however it’s interesting to see him in traffic in the small chance it happens, cause it’s ofc easier from the front to have very few mistakes, harder when you’re in the pack.
erikje
4th June 2021, 19:17
The reason he lost the advantage in the championship is his multitude of errors. Only by luck (imola) he still is in contention.
His car damage during q3 in Monaco was again his. Own mistake.
He makes lots of mistakes under pressure it seems.
Davethechicken
4th June 2021, 19:43
I think Hamiltons issue is the red bull is much faster, at every track so far..
Mayrton
4th June 2021, 15:17
Any news on the ranking while they were doing the long runs?
Srdjan Mandic (@srga91)
4th June 2021, 15:32
RB fastest with mid to high 1:46s on softs, Mercedes behind them with low 1:47s on mediums.
Ferrari have an equally fast car on raw pace, but seem to have too much degredation over a longer race stint.
Behind them it’s hard to tell, because they seem pretty equally matched. But I’d say McLaren (if Ferrari have tyre problems than McLaren are even in front of them on race pace), behind them a close fight between Alpha Tauri, Aston Martin, Alpine and possibly Alfa Romeo.
Mayrton
4th June 2021, 20:02
Thansks! @srga91
JL (@j-l)
4th June 2021, 20:35
Both practices were quite intriguing, let’s see what happens.