Charles Leclerc led a Ferrari one-two in what was called the second practice session at Baku, though the lack of running in the opening session meant this was the first opportunity drivers had to do any significant running.
Leclerc and team mate Sebastian Vettel made co-ordinated attempts to give each other slipstreams down Baku’s long, two kilometre blast towards the start/finish line. Leclerc set the benchmark time with a 1’42.872, within a tenth of a second of the best time seen in the same session last year.Vettel was over three tenths of a second behind in second place, with Lewis Hamilton a similar gap behind him in third. Hamilton had a run-in with Kevin Magnussen at turn 14, the Haas driver unwilling to yield to the Mercedes, and the pair making contact at speed.
Max Verstappen split the Mercedes drivers, relegating Valtteri Bottas to fifth. Encouragingly for Honda all four of their cars featured in the top 10 on their first day of running with the new ‘spec two’ power unit. However sixth-placed Daniil Kvyat ended his session at turn seven after oversteering into the barrier. Alexander Albon also put his Toro Rosso ahead of Pierre Gasly’s Red Bull.
Gasly had a near-miss late in the session when he went down at an escape road at turn three, where yellow flags were already waving for Romain Grosjean’s statinary Haas.
The McLaren pair joined the top 10, Carlos Sainz Jnr just six-thousandths of a second slower than his former team mate Kvyat.
Kvyat caused the second of two red flags in the 90-minute session. The other appeared when Lance Stroll clipped a barrier at turn three, wiping the front-left corner off his Racing point chassis.
George Russell was unable to take part in the session due to the damage caused to his Williams in first practice.
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| Pos. | No. | Driver | Car | Best lap | Gap | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 16 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | 1’42.872 | 28 | |
| 2 | 5 | Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | 1’43.196 | 0.324 | 28 |
| 3 | 44 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1’43.541 | 0.669 | 31 |
| 4 | 33 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull-Honda | 1’43.793 | 0.921 | 24 |
| 5 | 77 | Valtteri Bottas | Mercedes | 1’44.003 | 1.131 | 31 |
| 6 | 26 | Daniil Kvyat | Toro Rosso-Honda | 1’44.177 | 1.305 | 9 |
| 7 | 55 | Carlos Sainz Jnr | McLaren-Renault | 1’44.183 | 1.311 | 27 |
| 8 | 23 | Alexander Albon | Toro Rosso-Honda | 1’44.216 | 1.344 | 33 |
| 9 | 10 | Pierre Gasly | Red Bull-Honda | 1’44.240 | 1.368 | 24 |
| 10 | 4 | Lando Norris | McLaren-Renault | 1’44.295 | 1.423 | 32 |
| 11 | 20 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas-Ferrari | 1’44.901 | 2.029 | 25 |
| 12 | 99 | Antonio Giovinazzi | Alfa Romeo-Ferrari | 1’45.366 | 2.494 | 31 |
| 13 | 11 | Sergio Perez | Racing Point-Mercedes | 1’45.436 | 2.564 | 28 |
| 14 | 7 | Kimi Raikkonen | Alfa Romeo-Ferrari | 1’45.482 | 2.610 | 30 |
| 15 | 3 | Daniel Ricciardo | Renault | 1’45.483 | 2.611 | 15 |
| 16 | 8 | Romain Grosjean | Haas-Ferrari | 1’45.618 | 2.746 | 31 |
| 17 | 27 | Nico Hulkenberg | Renault | 1’46.717 | 3.845 | 24 |
| 18 | 18 | Lance Stroll | Racing Point-Mercedes | 1’47.875 | 5.003 | 8 |
| 19 | 88 | Robert Kubica | Williams-Mercedes | 1’48.111 | 5.239 | 27 |
Second practice visual gaps
Charles Leclerc – 1’42.872
+0.324 Sebastian Vettel – 1’43.196
+0.669 Lewis Hamilton – 1’43.541
+0.921 Max Verstappen – 1’43.793
+1.131 Valtteri Bottas – 1’44.003
+1.305 Daniil Kvyat – 1’44.177
+1.311 Carlos Sainz Jnr – 1’44.183
+1.344 Alexander Albon – 1’44.216
+1.368 Pierre Gasly – 1’44.240
+1.423 Lando Norris – 1’44.295
+2.029 Kevin Magnussen – 1’44.901
+2.494 Antonio Giovinazzi – 1’45.366
+2.564 Sergio Perez – 1’45.436
+2.610 Kimi Raikkonen – 1’45.482
+2.611 Daniel Ricciardo – 1’45.483
+2.746 Romain Grosjean – 1’45.618
+3.845 Nico Hulkenberg – 1’46.717
+5.003 Lance Stroll – 1’47.875
+5.239 Robert Kubica – 1’48.111
Drivers more then ten seconds off the pace omitted.
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2019 Azerbaijan Grand Prix
- Leclerc impressed by Binotto’s handling of Baku crash
- Top ten pictures from the 2019 Azerbaijan Grand Prix
- 2019 Azerbaijan Grand Prix Star Performers
- Mercedes start season with record-breaking fourth consecutive one-two
- Paddock Diary: Azerbaijan Grand Prix day four
erikje
26th April 2019, 15:45
Red Bull is missing a lot of data with only one performing car/driver.
Stroll made a beginner mistake turning to late.
Kvyat did what he does best. Happy birthday.
Hamilton and Magnussen.. interesting incident.
Nice eventful training session ;)
David BR (@david-br)
26th April 2019, 15:56
It was good, more interesting than some qualifying sessions. Baku has to be one of the best recent additions to the F1 season, the way the track stays constantly tricky and changing adds some real tension. Also close to the walls, like Monaco, but just enough space to get past, unlike Monaco.
Jere (@jerejj)
26th April 2019, 16:19
@erikje Here’s a more precise wording on the 2nd point: Stroll made a beginner mistake of attempting to make the corner when he should’ve just let the car go straight as Bottas did earlier on the same corner.
AMG44 (@amg44)
26th April 2019, 15:45
Well as Leclerc said last year “Magnussen eeeez and will always bee stoooopid”
Unnecessary hard driving there.
Ferraris looking dominant at least on single lap pace.
bosyber (@bosyber)
26th April 2019, 15:54
@amg44 mostly agree, but recall that Toto Wolff quote about Merc running the PU in a weaker mode than Ferrari on Friday; Vettel’s pace might well be in reach (not sure about Leclerc though).
AliceD (@aliced)
26th April 2019, 16:00
True, you need to adjust the Merc times by at least .5 of a second to get to their true pace. Ferrari ahead by a hairs breadth.
Chaitanya
26th April 2019, 17:01
There are certain people(Verstappen, Vettel, etc…) who cannot resist temptation to give into red mist and K-Mag falls in that category of short sighted people.
Remember Alonso’s rant?
ColdFly (@)
26th April 2019, 17:37
Sounds like a Chaitanya rant to me :p
Todfod (@todfod)
26th April 2019, 18:05
@amg44
What did Magnussen do? It’s kind of obvious it would be something daft in nature..
Chaitanya
27th April 2019, 6:12
Watch the video of FP3 highlights posted on F1 youtube channel. You can get a glimpse of stupidity of K-Mag.
Todfod (@todfod)
27th April 2019, 6:32
I wish I could travel in to the future .. would definitely help me with my F1 predictions ;)
Pjotr (@pietkoster)
26th April 2019, 16:07
Ferrari leading in practise, when did we see that before?
Mashiat (@mashiat)
26th April 2019, 16:09
I really hope Ferrari is able to get a 1-2 this race. This championship is already looking very close to being settled this early on in the season, so hopefully Ferrari can fight back and we can finally have a battle once more. If Mercedes (especially Hamilton) does manage to win this race, I’m afraid it’s game over for both championships.
Chaitanya
26th April 2019, 16:49
For last 2 years pole sitter has never won the race.
Todfod (@todfod)
26th April 2019, 16:54
@mashiat
But it’s only race 3.. It’s a long season man.
Regardless, Ferrari need to win a race.. They’ve cometely lost their rhythm and it feels like they’ve forgotten how to win. We can just hope they aren’t stupid enough to ask Leclerc to move over or stay behind again.
JC
26th April 2019, 17:39
Race 4…. but the Chinese GP was so boring I can see how you’d forget it lol.
Todfod (@todfod)
26th April 2019, 18:03
facepalm moment.. my bad.. race 4
Mashiat (@mashiat)
27th April 2019, 6:23
@todfod Ferrari 100% need a win here. If you really break it down, they have had 1 win in their last 11 races, and that one race was won by a driver who isn’t even in the team anymore.
Todfod (@todfod)
27th April 2019, 6:47
@mashiat
True.. if you think about it… Vettel hasn’t won a race in 11 or 12 races (since Spa). We’ve had Hamilton, Bottas, Kimi, Verstappen win races, and almost had Leclerc win a race, more recently than Vettel has.
Mashiat (@mashiat)
27th April 2019, 10:15
@todfod Yes, and also it’s not as if he’s really been pushing for consistency even when he hasn’t been wining. Since Spa, which was 12 races ago, he has only had 4 podiums of which only two were second places. His teammates in that time have managed 5 podiums and a race win. Vettel in the first half 2018 was fairly impressive, but he has just become a shadow of his former self now. Most drivers seem to hit their peak when they are between the ages of 29-33, but Vettel seems to have hit his when he was 24-26. A dominant Red Bull helped no doubt, but he wasn’t this wasteful even in seasons like 2012 or 2015.
Todfod (@todfod)
27th April 2019, 11:38
@mashiat
Not to mention that one of his four podiums was gifted to him in the last race by Leclerc. I would be surprised if Ferrari don’t terminate his contract by the end of this season.
knightameer (@knightameer)
26th April 2019, 16:11
Here we go again.. 1-2 on friday.. 3-4 on saturday. 3-5 or 4-5 on sunday.
Jere (@jerejj)
26th April 2019, 16:19
”You have to be alert on a street circuit.”
Phylyp (@phylyp)
26th April 2019, 16:24
LOL, FP1 made Reddit’s IdiotsInCars sub: https://www.reddit.com/r/IdiotsInCars/comments/bhkdka/truck_transporting_formula_1_car_hits_bridge_over/
Vegggen (@vegggen)
26th April 2019, 17:03
That Leclerc kid is pretty good, hopefully a top team will snap him up soon.
BlackJackFan
26th April 2019, 17:50
Hahaha…
Todfod (@todfod)
26th April 2019, 18:03
LMAO
Esploratore (@esploratore)
27th April 2019, 5:12
Really annoying, you want a top team for leclerc cause ferrari is not performing up to par, but red bull convinced me even less than ferrari this year, it’s formula mercedes.
Vegggen (@vegggen)
27th April 2019, 13:07
Hint: Light hearted joke, I cheer for Leclerc and the Scuderia this weekend :)
Todfod (@todfod)
26th April 2019, 18:12
Looks awfully close between Toro Rosso and Mclaren this weekend… just a tenth of second between those four.
Gasly popped up in there as well.. although he should be a couple of tenths ahead. I’m expecting Gasly to get a thrashing this season similar to what Vandoorne got last season. He’s nowhere close to Max even in FP sessions.
Giovinazzi is looking good at this circuit as well. We know he likes this track from GP2 and it’s showing in his pace relative to Kimi this weekend.
Don’t know what’s going on with Renault this weekend.. they look miserably slow on the time sheets.
And baby Lance… well.. another masterclass from him.
HK (@me4me)
26th April 2019, 20:34
Should be a good battle between Mclaren, Torro Rosso and Gasly this weekend.
Renault, Sauber, Haas and Racing Point are pretty much nowhere. Williams beyond nowhere.
iCarbs (@icarby)
27th April 2019, 7:58
Anything less than a Ferrari 1-2 this weekend will be unacceptable.
They either want to win the championship or not, they have the tech, the drivers and time. They need to pull it all together.
As much as I like Hamilton and respect his abilities sometimes other drivers/team(s) just make it easy for him.