F1 – Verstappen quickest in opening practice for Azerbaijan Grand Prix as red flags fly

Formula 1 Drivers’ Championship leader Max Verstappen topped the timesheet in an opening practice session for this weekend’s FIA Formula 1 Azerbaijan Grand Prix disrupted by red flags and crashes for Charles Leclerc and Franco Colapinto. 

Rain ahead of the session meant that conditions on the Baku City Circuit were less than ideal at the start of the first hour of practice. As such, drivers exercised a degree of caution in building up pace across their opening runs, with Verstappen leading the way after 10 minutes thanks to a Medium-tyre time of 1:47.214, almost five seconds off his table topping time from FP1 last year. 

Verstappen’s stay in P1 on that time was frozen in place after 12 minutes, when the red flags were flown for the first time. Debris on the track in Turn 12 led to a five-minute halt while the circuit was cleared. 

When running resumed, Verstappen was quickly back up to speed and the Red Bull driver, once again on Medium tyres, lowered the P1 benchmark to 1:46.858 before Leclerc eclipsed that by 0.25s, also on the C4 compound Mediums.

However, the Monegasque driver then went beyond the limits and hit the wall in Turn 15. The shunt damaged the front right corner of his Ferrari SF-24 and brought out the red flags for a second time. 

With 26 minutes left on the clock the session got underway again, with many drivers switching to the Soft compound C3 tyres. Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton quickly jumped to the top of the timesheet with a 1:45.859 but there was no time for any further improvements as the red flags came out again, this time for Williams rookie Franco Colapinto.

The 21-year-old Argentinian, who was experiencing the Baku City Circuit for the first time, lost control of his FW46 on entry to Turn 4, with the rear of his car stepping out and slapping the outside wall. The bounce back from the wall then caused the front end to hit the wall. The red flags emerged for the third time. 

The session resumed once more with 11 minutes remaining and once again Soft tyres were the main choice. 

Verstappen got close to Hamilton’s time with a first effort and seemed destined for second place behind the Mercedes driver, but the Dutchman had time enough for a second attempt and this time he found enough pace to ease past the seven-time champion by three tenths of a second thanks to a lap of 1:45.546.

Verstappen’s Red Bull team-mate Sergio Pérez took third place behind Hamilton, with potential title contender Lando Norris in P4, just under half a second off Verstappen. Carlos Sainz was fifth in the other Ferrari, while Norris’ McLaren team-mate Oscar Piastri was sixth ahead of Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso, Mercedes’ George Russell and the unfortunate Leclerc and RB’s Daniel Ricciardo rounded out the top 10. Oliver Bearman, who is this weekend replacing Kevin Magnussen at Haas following the Danish driver’s receipt of a one-race ban for accruing 12 penalty points in 12 months, took 11th place. 

2024 FIA Formula 1 Azerbaijan Grand Prix – Free Practice 1 
1 Max Verstappen Red Bull/Honda RBPT 1:45.546 21 204.752
2 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:45.859 0.313 19 204.147
3 Sergio Pérez Red Bull/Honda RBPT 1:45.922 0.376 17 204.025
4 Lando Norris McLaren/Mercedes 1:46.027 0.481 18 203.823
5 Carlos Sainz Ferrari 1:46.173 0.627 21 203.543
6 Oscar Piastri McLaren/Mercedes 1:46.282 0.736 18 203.334
7 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin/Mercedes 1:46.452 0.906 19 203.009
8 George Russell Mercedes 1:46.516 0.970 18 202.887
9 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:46.608 1.062 11 202.712
10 Daniel Ricciardo RB/Honda RBPT 1:46.687 1.141 23 202.562
11 Oliver Bearman Haas/Ferrari 1:46.973 1.427 23 202.021
12 Nico Hülkenberg Haas/Ferrari 1:47.135 1.589 20 201.715
13 Lance Stroll Aston Martin/Mercedes 1:47.184 1.638 15 201.623
14 Valtteri Bottas Sauber/Ferrari 1:47.640 2.094 18 200.769
15 Yuki Tsunoda RB/Honda RBPT 1:47.708 2.162 21 200.642
16 Franco Colapinto Williams/Mercedes 1:47.901 2.355 12 200.283
17 Alexander Albon Williams/Mercedes 1:47.955 2.409 17 200.183
18 Pierre Gasly Alpine/Renault 1:48.712 3.166 21 198.789
19 Zhou Guanyu Sauber/Ferrari 1:49.052 3.506 19 198.169
20 Esteban Ocon Alpine/Renault – 3