Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton pipped team-mate Charles Leclerc in second free practice at Baku’s Azerbaijan Grand Prix, while Formula 1 title rivals Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri both struggled.
Ferrari duo Hamilton and Leclerc led the early running and as rivals struggled on the slippery streets of Baku the Scuderia stayed on top for the entire session. Leclerc’s early soft-tyre lap was bested by Hamilton’s 1m41.543s on mediums, perhaps foreshadowing the difficult choice teams face in qualifying between Pirelli’s softest C5 and C6 compounds.
Those lap times were already one second faster than the morning’s FP1 session on a rarely used and therefore rapidly improving street circuit.
After the traditional mid-session lull some teams returned to the track for longer runs while others still chased more one-lap performance. On his latest soft-tyre run Norris suffered session-ending damage after clattering the outside wall on the exit of Turn 4, ripping his left-rear track rod out of alignment.
Soon after, Leclerc leapfrogged team-mate Hamilton, going top with a 1m41.367s lap on softs, making most of the 0.176s difference on the flat out blast towards the finish line in sector three.
Piastri then also hit the outside wall in Turn 15, as did several other drivers, but the softer TecPro wall allowed the championship leader to get away with his glancing blow without damage.
Lando Norris, McLaren
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With under a quarter of the session to go Hamilton went top once more, this time on the softest tyre compound, as he dipped 0.074s below Leclerc’s time.
The contact Norris and Piastri made seemed symptomatic of both McLaren drivers struggling to find optimal grip under braking, and in their absence Mercedes duo George Russell and Andrea Kimi Antonelli slotted into the top four. The Silver Arrows conceded four tenths, with Russell also surviving a brush with the wall.
Oliver Bearman was a surprise fifth for Haas on the scene of his 2024 cameo for the same squad, followed by Italian GP winner Max Verstappen in the Red Bull.
Liam Lawson was a promising seventh for Racing Bulls, followed by the second Haas of Esteban Ocon and the Williams of Alex Albon.
Norris only managed 10th before his contact with the wall, while Piastri was down in 12th. The F1 championship leader will also be investigated after the session for allegedly failing to slow under yellow flags halfway through the session.
The action continues on Saturday morning with FP3 at 12:30 local Azeri time, followed by qualifying at 16:00 local time.
F1 Azerbaijan GP – FP2 results
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