Verstappen quickest as Leclerc and Colapinto crash out of first practice · RaceFans

Max Verstappen was quickest by three tenths of a second from Lewis Hamilton in a disrupted opening practice session for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.

Charles Leclerc and Franco Colapinto both crashed out in the first hour of practice as three red flags interrupted proceedings at the Baku City Circuit.

The first practice session of the weekend would be an eye-opening experience for the two rookies in the field. Williams driver Colapinto had never driven the Baku circuit before, while Oliver Bearman prepared for his first Friday session for a grand prix he would race in.

Oscar Piastri immediately reported very low grip on the street circuit surface. Almost all drivers headed out on medium tyres for their first runs of the weekend, with Lewis Hamilton setting the early benchmark with a 1’47.618.

The session was stopped early on by a red flag for debris, which was quickly cleared by the marshals. Once the session resumed, Leclerc headed back out on the same set of medium tyres that he had run on earlier, posting the fastest time with a 1’46.608, with Verstappen just under half a tenth slower in second.

As Leclerc improved in the first sector on his 11th lap, the Ferrari driver ran onto the dusty outside of the track on the approach to turn 15, locked up and speared into the barrier. With the front of the Ferrari severely damaged, Leclerc’s session was finished and practice was red flagged for a second time.

When practice resumed, several drivers switched attention to soft tyres. Hamilton went fastest of all with a 1’45.859, only for practice to be suspended once again seconds later when Colapinto crashed into the wall at the exit of turn four. Thankfully the Williams driver appeared to be unharmed, but the same could not be said for his car.

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Practice resumed for the final time with 11 minutes remaining, with Verstappen going within half a tenth of the Mercedes. However, when the chequered flag fell at the end of the hour, Verstappen posted his best time of the session on six-lap-old soft tyres to beat Hamilton to the fastest time by three tenths of a second, securing him as the quickest driver of first practice.

Behind Hamilton, Sergio Perez was half a tenth behind the Mercedes in third with Lando Norris in fourth having only set his best lap on mediums. Carlos Sainz Jnr, Oscar Piastri and Fernando Alonso were all within a second of Verstappen’s best, as was George Russell in eighth. Leclerc ended the session ninth despite crashing out, with Daniel Ricciardo completing the top ten ahead of Haas pair Bearman and Nico Hulkenberg, the latter having set his best time with a DRS fault.

Esteban Ocon failed to set a timed lap in the hour after reporting a lack of power on an out lap in his Alpine.