FP2: Hamilton heads an impressive Ferrari one-two in the second practice session at Baku
Ferrari's seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton displayed an impressive performance in the second practice session at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, setting the benchmark time ahead of his team-mate Charles Leclerc. F1Technical's senior writer Balazs Szabo reports on the second practice session at Baku.
Having clipped the wall in the opening practice session at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton looked in an impressive form in the second one-hour session.
The Briton ran the mediums in the opening stages of the session, and ended second quickest after the first runs.
The seven-time world champion looked to struggle a bit when he switched to the red-walled C6 compound, but he got his act together on his third flying lap on the softest compound, posting a time of 1m 41.293s to ended up quickest on Friday.
His team-mate Charles Leclerc led the way after the first half an hour of running at Baku, and took second behind his team-mate after everyone completed the qualifying simulation runs.
The Monegasque ran a less-loaded rear wing configuration compared to Hamilton, and endured a few moments across the session, with the rear end of his SF-25 having been quite loose due to the low-downforce rear wing.
Mercedes' George Russell finished best of the rest, just under half a second behind Hamilton, and ahead of team mate Kimi Antonelli, Haas' Ollie Bearman, Max Verstappen and Liam Lawson.
Esteban Ocon completed a positive day for Haas in eighth from Alex Albon, Lando Norris and the second Williams of Carlos Sainz.
McLaren endured a tough practice session. Norris was quick in the early stages of the one-hour session, but he clipped the wall on the exit of Turn 4 which damaged his left-rear suspension, and although the Briton was able to recover back to the pits, he remained in the garage until the chequered flag.
His team-mate Oscar Piastri was unable to put a strong lap together on the softs, and was left in P12. In addition, he was placed under investigation for a yellow flag infringement to be investigated after the session.
Racing Bulls driver Isack Hadjar toom 13th, ahead of Yuki Tsunoda, Gabriel Bortoleto, Pierre Gasly and Lance Stroll.
Kick Sauber displayed an encouraging performance in the opening practice, but Nico Hulkenberg could only finish in P18, whilst Kick Sauber), Fernando Alonso and Franco Colapinto brought up the rear of the field in FP2.
