What we learned from Friday at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix

Azerbaijan GP

What we learned from Friday at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix

A crazy day in Baku!

Matthew Scott

Friday 26 April 2019 17:00

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The chaotic nature of Friday's action at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix meant that teams were unable to run full programmes, although there were still some cues to glean from what we saw on-track. After a loose drain cover meant FP1 featured just 13 minutes of on-track action the red flags were twice brought out in FP2.

George Russell's Williams was shredded by a loose drain cover in FP1, ending that session before any meaningful running had been done, while Lance Stroll and Daniil Kvyat hit the barriers in the second session.

FP2 saw almost all drivers run off-line at some point as the dusty track and cool tyres combined for tricky running conditions.

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The day ended with Ferrari topping the timesheets, as they had been expected to in Baku – can Mercedes fight back?

After a severely shortened FP1, the drivers were itching to get out in FP2

And it was @ScuderiaFerrari who came out on top in Baku ⏱️#AzerbaijanGP ?? #F1 pic.twitter.com/NvD52nsFgY
— Formula 1 (@F1) April 26, 2019

Leclerc lights it up

Charles Leclerc has a fine history in Baku, having won both races when he raced here in F2 in 2017, and then securing a sixth-place finish that announced him in F1 with Sauber 12 months ago.

Team-mate Sebastian Vettel was among those to suffer with grip at certain stages of the circuit, but Leclerc looked supreme and clearly has a level of comfort around this track.

Ferrari's power advantage is expected to pay dividends on the monstrous main straight, while it appears they will try to consolidate that strength in qualifying on Saturday by towing each other, with Leclerc and Vettel practicing formation flying.

Although the conditions on-track and many interruptions meant we perhaps did not see anyone push to the full, Leclerc still ended the session three tenths clear of Vettel, with Max Verstappen (+ 0.921) splitting the Mercedes pair of Lewis Hamilton (+0.669) and Valtteri Bottas (+1.131).

Mighty Toro Rosso

Alexander Albon said ahead of the weekend that Toro Rosso ought to have been in Q3 at every race this season, and they look on form, with both the Thai driver and team-mate Kvyat in the top 10, despite the Russian's crash.

Kvyat has never made it past lap nine in Baku, which may temper some excitement, but Albon is among the previous race-winners in the field thanks to a feature-race triumph here last year.

The McLaren of Carlos Sainz was the car to split the Toro Rosso pair. The MCL34 has been rapid through speed traps all year and could be strong on this circuit as a result.

Pushing home the point, Lando Norris rounded out the top 10, just behind Pierre Gasly, who once again ran well off the pace of Max Verstappen, but will have time to respond on Saturday.