Leclerc gives Red Bull food for thought but suffers late engine issues
Leclerc gives Red Bull food for thought but suffers late engine issues
Charles Leclerc suggested Red Bull will not have it all their own way in qualifying for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix after comfortably topping the timesheet in second practice.
Ferrari driver Leclerc was quickest on both the medium- and soft-tyre hot laps over the hour-long session at the Baku City Circuit to keep Red Bull duo Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez at bay.
Perez, fresh from his Monaco Grand Prix triumph and with a new two-year contract in his pocket, had led the way at the end of FP1 from Leclerc and Verstappen.
By the end of the second session, the top two were reversed, with Verstappen again having to settle for the third-best time.
Leclerc set a time of one minute 43.224s to finish a quarter-of-a-second up on Perez, with Verstappen 0.356s adrift, with the oscillations of the DRS on his RB18 no longer prevalent that had been a concern in FP1.
The upper element on the rear wing of Verstappen's car was seen flapping wildly once open along the longest 'straight' in F1, leading to complaints from rivals.
On the medium-compound tyres, Verstappen finished 0.030s behind Leclerc, with Perez 0.125s down, and that after the Monégasque had also been given a helping hand courtesy of a tow at one stage.
Once on the softs, Leclerc managed to find a six-tenths-of-a-second improvement, and with no tow on this occasion, albeit over the closing minutes complained several timess about issues with his power unit which the team are to investigate.
It is almost certain team-mate Sainz would have been alongside him as the Spanish driver was on par timewise through the first two sectors - setting a purple middle - but made a mistake at turn 16 and aborted the lap.
There were numerous errors throughout the session from a handful of drivers - with Perez overshooting turn one, McLaren's Lando Norris doing likewise also using the run-off at turn three.
There were also wall clips, notably with Williams' Alex Albon bizarrely doing so at the kink at the top of the straight, while Alfa Romeo's Valtteri Bottas did so hard at turn 15.
Albon's minor shunt damaged the front suspension, forcing him out of the session for the final 25 minutes and leaving him in 18th ahead of only Haas' Mick Schumacher and Williams team-mate Nicholas Latifi.
Behind the top three, Alpine's Fernando Alonso was fourth fastest, 0.918s adrift, setting the quickest final sector in a rapid Alpine seemingly tuned for the long straight as it was the best through the speed trap.
Sainz's failed hot lap on the softs left him down in fifth, 1.050s back, followed by the AlphaTauri of Pierre Gasly, with Mercedes' George Russell seventh on the timesheet, notably three-tenths of a second quicker than team-mate Lewis Hamilton.
The Mercedes duo, along with Ferrari most notably, suffered worse with the return of the porpoising at this track, with the heads of Leclerc, Sainz, Russell and Hamilton all bobbing violently in the cockpits of their cars.
AlphaTauri's Yuki Tsunoda, Alpine's Esteban Ocon and McLaren's Lando Norris rounded out the top 10, with Aston Martin's Sebastian Vettel also ahead of Hamilton.
Daniel Ricciardo, following a shocking FP1, was down in 14th in his McLaren, 1.835s behind Leclerc and three-tenths-of-a-second behind team-mate Norris.
Azerbaijan Grand Prix second practice results
1. Charles Leclerc [Ferrari] 1:43.224
2. Sergio Perez [Red Bull] +0.248
3. Max Verstappen [Red Bull] +0.356
4. Fernando Alonso [Alpine] +0.918
5. Carlos Sainz [Ferrari] +1.050
6. Pierre Gasly [AlphaTauri] +1.091
7. George Russell [Mercedes] +1.324
8. Yuki Tsunoda [AlphaTauri] +1.343
9. Esteban Ocon [Alpine] +1.385
10. Lando Norris [McLaren] +1.547
11. Sebastian Vettel [Aston Martin] +1.557
12. Lewis Hamilton [Mercedes] +1.650
13. Lance Stroll [Aston Martin] +1.650
14. Daniel Ricciardo [McLaren] +1.835
15. Valtteri Bottas [Alfa Romeo] +1.891
16. Zhou Guanyu [Alfa Romeo] +2.040
17. Kevin Magnussen [Haas] +2.364
18. Alexander Albon [Williams] +3.173
19. Mick Schumacher [Haas] +3.201
20. Nicholas Latifi [Williams] +3.994
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F1 Race Calendar
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GP BAHRAIN
29 Feb - 2 Mar
Max Verstappen
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GP SAUDI ARABIA
7 - 9 Mar
Max Verstappen
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GP AUSTRALIA
22 - 24 Mar
Carlos Sainz
- GP JAPAN 5 - 7 Apr
- GP CHINA 19 - 21 Apr
- GP USA 3 - 6 May
- GP ITALY 17 - 19 May
- GP MONACO 24 - 26 May
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F1 Standings
Drivers
- Oliver Bearman
- Charles Leclerc
- Carlos Sainz
- Lando Norris
- Oscar Piastri
- Pierre Gasly
- Esteban Ocon
- Sergio Pérez
- Max Verstappen
- Alexander Albon
- Logan Sargeant
- Lewis Hamilton
- George Russell
- Nico Hülkenberg
- Kevin Magnussen
- Fernando Alonso
- Lance Stroll
- Valtteri Bottas
- Zhou Guanyu
- Daniel Ricciardo
- Yuki Tsunoda
Races
- Gulf Air Grand Prix of Bahrain 2024
- Saudi Arabian Grand Prix 2024
- Grand Prix of Australia 2024
- MSC Cruises Grand Prix of Japan 2024
- Grand Prix of China 2024
- Miami Grand Prix 2024
- Gran Premio dell'Emilia Romagna 2024
- Grand Prix of Monaco 2024
- Grand Prix du Canada 2024
- Gran Premio de España 2024
- Grand Prix of Austria 2024
- Grand Prix of Great Britain 2024
- Grand Prix of Hungary 2024
- Grand Prix of Belgium 2024
- Heineken Dutch Grand Prix 2024
- Grand Prix of Italy 2024
- Grand Prix of Azerbaijan 2024
- Grand Prix of Singapore 2024
- Grand Prix of the United States 2024
- Gran Premio de la Ciudad de Mexico 2024
- Grande Prêmio de São Paulo 2024
- Heineken Silver Las Vegas Grand Prix 2024
- Qatar Grand Prix 2024
- Grand Prix of Abu Dhabi 2024
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