Perez has pace, but there’s no doubt who Verstappen’s team mate is here to help · RaceFans

Since Sergio Perez last flew out of Azerbaijan following his victory in Baku in April 2023 – over 500 days ago – there has been little for the veteran Red Bull driver to celebrate on track.

But in a sport where there are few true friends, where the only one you can rely on is yourself, Baku has arguably been kinder to Perez than anyone or anything else in Formula 1.

With two victories and five podiums from seven starts – both records for this distinctive track – Perez can always relay on Baku for a strong result, even if he’s been in the midst of one of his all-too-frequent slumps in form over the years.

In all 16 of this year’s rounds so far, Perez has never once out-qualified or finished ahead of his world champion team mate Max Verstappen in races where both have seen the chequered flag. But the ‘King of Baku’ certainly seemed more comfortable than Verstappen over the first day of practice at Azerbaijan.

Although Verstappen was quickest in first practice, Perez was just six-thousandths of a second behind Charles Leclerc’s pace-setting lap in the evening session. He had also, more importantly, been quicker than his team mate in almost every lap in the final hour of running – both on the soft tyres and during the longer runs on mediums later in the session.

Perez described his Friday as a “good, solid day”. Verstappen, who had looked atypically ragged around the Baku circuit during the session was also “quite confident” about the team’s early performance following a very disappointing showing at Monza last time out. But although Verstappen was slower than his team mate, it’s easy to see why looking into the data.

Taking both Red Bull drivers’ fastest laps from Friday, there was a clear set-up difference between the two team mates. While Verstappen was able to carry significantly higher minimum speed at the apexes through the many 90-degree corners – as much as 6kph in turns four and seven – Perez was easily quicker on the straights by an even greater amount. Verstappen went from being almost two tenths up on Perez heading down to turn 16 to falling to more than half a second adrift of his team mate by the time he reached the end of the lap.

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Whether it is down to power unit settings or Verstappen running much higher downforce than Perez, it’s clear that Verstappen has more ultimate pace than he was willing to show on Friday. With Red Bull bringing a revised new floor for this weekend, it is also possible the team were eager to run their most reliable driver in a vastly different set-up to his team mate to try and gain valuable understanding that seems to have eluded Mercedes with their similarly aggressive Spa-spec floor – which they have discarded for this weekend.

One striking observation to make from Friday’s practice was just how slow the field were compared to last year. Verstappen’s best time from opening practice was over three seconds slower than his own best from the equivalent session in 2023, while Leclerc’s FP2 time was still more than a second slower.

Drivers complained about a very low grip level across the day, with Leclerc blaming his first practice-ending crash on having run too far onto the dusty outer edge of the track on the approach to turn 15. But Daniel Ricciardo, returning to Baku for the first time since 2022, had a decent explanation for why cars were suddenly so much slower.

“I was hearing that they didn’t pressure wash the circuit, or something, and basically clean it like they normally would,” the RB driver explained. “So it started off really slippery and dirty. Mid-corner is really weak, traction’s poor. So overall level of grip is low.”

This was then backed up by Pirelli, who had found that the grip levels of the street circuit were lower than last year when they had inspected the track on Wednesday.

“It’s impossible to give a definitive answer, but this may have been down to the fact the asphalt was not treated as it had been last year,” said Pirelli’s chief engineer Simone Berra. “As could be seen by the amount of dirt kicked up by the cars.”

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With an unusually high level of track evolution expected over the rest of the weekend as a result of the low level of natural grip, it’s harder to read into the long run times as usual. However, on the mediums, Ferrari looked impressive. While the Red Bull pair were in the 1’49s and even 1’50s at times, Leclerc and team mate Carlos Sainz Jnr stayed around the low 1’49s and 1’48s on their runs.

But Mercedes were closest to the Ferraris than the Red Bulls or McLarens were. However, Lewis Hamilton and George Russell’s pace was perhaps more eye-opening as they carried out their high fuel runs on the hard compounds, yet managed lap times that were comparable to the Ferraris.

Although Russell’s day was disrupted by an unscheduled power unit change prompted by an irregular oil sample, he was encouraged by the pace the team had shown on Friday – particularly by his team mate.

“The good news is that Lewis was looking very quick out there,” Russell said. “It encourages us that the car is strong, and we can be competitive this weekend.

“It looks very close between several teams, with Ferrari in particular looking strong. If we can make improvements overnight, though, we can aim to be in the mix for qualifying and the race on Sunday.”

The tiny margins between many of the drivers at the front of the field suggests that qualifying could well be one where just a few extra kilometres-per-hour could be the difference between multiple positions on the grid. Getting a tow could be a major advantage at the end of a lap.

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McLaren’s admission prior to the race that they will “bias” their efforts towards Lando Norris raises the possibility they may deploy Oscar Piastri in the service of his team mate’s championship chances this weekend. However the team has been cagey about precisely how far they are prepared to go to do this. Will Piastri be told to give Norris a flying start to his lap with a tow out of turn 16?

Red Bull have been far less ambiguous about Perez’s role in helping Verstappen. If Red Bull decide Verstappen should benefit from the same, there’s no doubt Perez will have to comply. Although he’s had a strong start to his weekend, it may be that the King of Baku has to play servant this time around.

Combined practice times

Teams’ progress vs 2023

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