Azerbaijan GP Friday practice
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Verstappen slots into third behind the Mercedes drivers. Perez, Stroll and Hartley are the only other drivers to have set a time so far.
Autosport
Here's an eye-catching piece of news: Jenson Button is going to join Fernando Alonso in racing at Le Mans (and subsequently the World Endurance Championship) in the LMP1 class 
Radio Comms
Verstappen is told to watch his "crossover on the brakes". That's the crossover between the accelerator and brake pedals, which can cause havoc with engine settings on these high-tech cars. We have a little bit of personal experience of that, having managed to shut down a Formula E car during a track test last year with similar pedal behaviour! Oops.
Stopwatch
Verstappen now tops the order with a 1m46.399s.
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Edd Straw
The Red Bulls look strong through Turn 12, not suffering any major balance problems and able to turn in pretty decisively and feed the power in with confidence. And I have to say the Force Indias look poor through here. Both drivers very messy.
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Ricciardo makes it a Red Bull 1-2, 0.069s slower than Verstappen.
Radio Comms
"The smell of the car here in the pitlane is horrendous," says Vandoorne, who is about to leave the garage.
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Edd Straw
Raikkonen is willing to take more kerb than anyone else through 12 and it seems to be working for him. Both Ferrari drivers are able to attack and rotate the rear properly on entry.
Radio Comms
"The rear looks a bit poor," says Vettel, who is discussing backing off with Ferrari.
Most of the radio traffic so far in this session has been about tyre temperatures. Plenty of drivers are struggling to get their tyres into the right operating window, so they are getting a lot of feedback from the pits on how much they are missing by.
Stopwatch
Verstappen lowers the benchmark to a 1m45.5s, while Hamilton moves into second to split the Red Bulls.
Hulkenberg waited longer than most to set a time in this session, but he's up to fifth now in the Renault. Not the first time we've seen him as best of the rest.
Yellow flag
Verstappen has come to a halt. He's up against the barrier...
Radio Comms
"I stalled in first gear, what can I do?" says Verstappen.
Crash
Replays confirm that's a crash for Verstappen. He lost the car on the brakes, then it slid back the other way and sent him into the barrier side-on.
Yellow flag
We have a virtual safety car, as Verstappen's shunted car is right in the firing line at Turn 6.
Yellow flag
After plenty of radio chatter with Red Bull, none of the instructions Verstappen was given have allowed him to fire the car back up. He's getting out, and is now trying to help the marshals get it moved.
This VSC has come at the end of the 40-minute window for the first sets of tyres that teams have to give back, so it's effectively called to an end the first part of the session.
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Radio Comms
Vettel reports his "rears are like toast". It's been a tricky morning for tyre complaints up and down the pitlane, and plenty of that frustrated chatter has come from the Ferraris.
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Green flag
That Red Bull wasn't easy to clear for the marshals, but it is finally behind the barriers and the track is clear again.
Information
Top 10 so far in FP1: 1 Ricciardo, 2 Verstappen, 3 Hamilton, 4 Bottas, 5 Hulkenberg, 6 Stroll, 7 Grosjean, 8 Hartley, 9 Alonso, 10 Ocon.
'Where are the Ferraris?' we hear you ask. 16th and 17th for Raikkonen and Vettel, who have done seven laps each on ultrasofts and largely struggled with their rear tyres.
Vandoorne is the first man to grab a second set of tyres and head back out in FP1. He's currently bottom of the pile, having not set a representative time during the first 40 minutes of running.
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Alonso joins team-mate Vandoorne on track.
Edd Straw
The McLaren looks unstable through 11 in the hands of both drivers - they are almost having to drag the rear end round.
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Vandoorne moves up to 16th - which puts him ahead of both Ferraris.
Better news for the other McLaren, as Alonso climbs up to sixth. That puts him just behind Hulkenberg in the works Renault.
Edd Straw
Alonso is hustling the car to good effect, but it’s not a car that allows the driver to be quick without big effort.
Raikkonen goes fifth on fresh ultrasofts.
Radio Comms
"The car just put itself into neutral," says Vandoorne.
Gasly moves into the top 10, putting the Toro Rosso ninth.
We're not going to see Verstappen in this session again after his crash.
By: Geoff Creighton
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