F1 Azerbaijan GP: Russell tops FP2 from Antonelli as Lindblad crashes

Mercedes driver George Russell ended Thursday's practice running at Formula 1's Azerbaijan Grand Prix on top after comfortably leading FP2.

Russell held off Mercedes team-mate and championship leader Kimi Antonelli as the Silver Arrows enjoyed a comfortable cushion through the fast streets in Baku.

With the race taking place on Saturday to observe a national holiday on Sunday, the on-track proceedings got underway on Thursday. On the high-speed 6km street circuit stretching along the Caspian Sea, the red flag came out after 20 minutes for a crash by Racing Bulls rookie Arvid Lindblad, who tagged the protruding Turn 9 wall at the narrow castle section, part of the UNESCO heritage site the circuit loops around.

The session resumed at the halfway mark following some debris cleaning, but in Oliver Bearman's case the second half of FP2 was short-lived, with the Haas driver reporting a power unit failure coming out of the pits.

It took until a paddock wide move towards soft-tyre one-lap runs for drivers to challenge Verstappen's early medium-tyre benchmark. Ferrari's Charles Leclerc first dipped below the Dutchman's time after 25 minutes with a 1m44.473s, before FP1 leader Russell convincingly took over command with a 1m43.759s, seven tenths quicker than the Ferrari.

But Mercedes had more ion that tank still as it looks ominously quick on the power-hungry Baku city circuit. Russell took another generous bite of his best time to set a 1m43.347s lap, with Antonelli slotting into second, five tenths behind, after sitting out a chunk of first practice with a mechanical issue.

Andrea Kimi Antonelli, Mercedes

Photo by: Guido De Bortoli / LAT Images via Getty Images

Verstappen moved past Leclerc into third, yet still over eighth tenths in arrears of Russell as Mercedes ended the day with a 1-2 result. Hamilton was two tenths behind Leclerc in fifth, followed by the first McLaren car in the hands of Lando Norris.

McLaren, which is introducing a sizeable upgrade package aimed at improving low-speed performance, was still optimising its updates car as Norris followed 1.5s behind without setting a representative qualifying simulation. Pierre Gasly split the two McLarens in seventh ahead of Oscar Piastri, with Isack Hadjar and Esteban Ocon rounding out the top 10.

Alongside the on-track issues for Lindblad and Bearman, there was more trouble for Aston Martin and Honda as Fernando Alonso only managed nine laps before being consigned to the garage with a suspected oil leak in the power unit.

F1 Azerbaijan GP - FP2 results

FP2

All Stats

 

Cla	Driver	#		Chassis	Engine	Laps	Time	Interval	Tyres	km/h
1	G. Russell Mercedes	63		Mercedes	Mercedes	24	1'43.347		S	209.109
2	A. Antonelli Mercedes	12		Mercedes	Mercedes	16	+0.552 1'43.899	0.552	S	207.998
3	M. Verstappen Red Bull Racing	3		Red Bull	Red Bull	23	+0.827 1'44.174	0.275	S	207.449
4	C. Leclerc Ferrari	16		Ferrari	Ferrari	24	+1.126 1'44.473	0.299	S	206.855
5	L. Hamilton Ferrari	44		Ferrari	Ferrari	23	+1.318 1'44.665	0.192	S	206.475
6	L. Norris McLaren	1		McLaren	Mercedes	22	+1.484 1'44.831	0.166	S	206.148
7	P. Gasly Alpine	10		Alpine	Mercedes	23	+1.496 1'44.843	0.012	S	206.125
8	O. Piastri McLaren	81		McLaren	Mercedes	22	+1.510 1'44.857	0.014	S	206.097
9	I. Hadjar Red Bull Racing	6		Red Bull	Red Bull	21	+1.521 1'44.868	0.011	S	206.076
10	E. Ocon Haas F1 Team	31		Haas	Ferrari	25	+1.943 1'45.290	0.422	S	205.250
11	F. Colapinto Alpine	43		Alpine	Mercedes	23	+2.132 1'45.479	0.189	S	204.882
12	L. Lawson Racing Bulls	30		RB	Red Bull	25	+2.334 1'45.681	0.202	S	204.490
13	S. Perez Cadillac F1 Team	11		Cadillac	Ferrari	23	+2.413 1'45.760	0.079	S	204.338
14	G. Bortoleto Audi	5		Audi	Audi	24	+2.447 1'45.794	0.034	S	204.272
15	N. Hulkenberg Audi	27		Audi	Audi	20	+2.507 1'45.854	0.060	S	204.156
16	A. Albon Williams	23		Williams	Mercedes	24	+2.776 1'46.123	0.269	S	203.639
17	C. Sainz Williams	55		Williams	Mercedes	22	+2.874 1'46.221	0.098	S	203.451
18	A. Lindblad Racing Bulls	41		RB	Red Bull	4	+3.044 1'46.391	0.170	M	203.126
19	V. Bottas Cadillac F1 Team	77		Cadillac	Ferrari	26	+3.390 1'46.737	0.346	S	202.467
20	O. Bearman Haas F1 Team	87		Haas	Ferrari	10	+3.454 1'46.801	0.064	M	202.346
21	L. Stroll Aston Martin Racing	18		Aston Martin	Honda	24	+4.056 1'47.403	0.602	S	201.212
22	F. Alonso Aston Martin Racing	14		Aston Martin	Honda	9	+4.542 1'47.889	0.486	S	200.305
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