Hamilton dominates Friday practice at Baku

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F1 Grand Prix, GP Europe, Baku Street Circuitaz

Lewis Hamilton was unchallenged throughout the second free practice session around the new and spectacular Baku street circuit. Nico Rosberg came closest, but stranded at more than 6 tenths when his session came to an early end due to technical issues.

Hamilton immediately started atop the timesheet on the soft tyres as his team mate Rosberg went out on the mediums. When the super softs were brought out later in the session, Rosberg was easily faster, but Hamilton soon reacted, even though his first attempt on the super softs was scuppered by a slide over the kerbs at turn 16.

As all drivers subsequently switched to focus on longer runs, the top times were set in the windy 90 minutes session.

At Force India, nothing but smiles, as the team had a competitive day, seeing Sergio Perez set the third fastest time, and Hulkenberg fifth, sandwiching Valtteri Bottas in the Williams. Behind them was Carlos Sainz in the Toro Rosso, beating the fastest Red Bull Racing driver Max Verstappen in 7th position.

Sebastian Vettel's 8th time underlined a difficult session for Ferrari, with his time only marginally faster than Jenson Button in the first McLaren Honda. Daniel Ricciardo completed the top 10 in his hastily repaired Red Bull.

Results

Pos.No.DriverCarTimeGapLaps
144Lewis HamiltonMercedes1:44.223-33
26Nico RosbergMercedes1:44.913+0.690s26
311Sergio PerezForce India Mercedes1:45.336+1.113s37
477Valtteri BottasWilliams Mercedes1:45.764+1.541s35
527Nico HulkenbergForce India Mercedes1:45.920+1.697s37
655Carlos SainzToro Rosso Ferrari1:46.027+1.804s35
733Max VerstappenRed Bull Racing Tag Heuer1:46.068+1.845s35
85Sebastian VettelFerrari1:46.219+1.996s36
922Jenson ButtonMcLaren Honda1:46.234+2.011s32
103Daniel RicciardoRed Bull Racing Tag Heuer1:46.293+2.070s32
1114Fernando AlonsoMcLaren Honda1:46.498+2.275s27
128Romain GrosjeanHaas Ferrari1:46.681+2.458s29
137Kimi RäikkönenFerrari1:46.694+2.471s32
1426Daniil KvyatToro Rosso Ferrari1:46.744+2.521s35
1521Esteban GutierrezHaas Ferrari1:46.830+2.607s26
1619Felipe MassaWilliams Mercedes1:47.060+2.837s28
1720Kevin MagnussenRenault1:47.329+3.106s38
1888Rio HaryantoMrt Mercedes1:47.487+3.264s33
199Marcus EricssonSauber Ferrari1:47.772+3.549s22
2030Jolyon PalmerRenault1:47.794+3.571s35
2194Pascal WehrleinMrt Mercedes1:48.018+3.795s36
2212Felipe NasrSauber Ferrari1:48.081+3.858s38