F1 Grand Prix practice results: Leclerc fastest in Azerbaijan GP on Friday
Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc was fastest during an incident-packed Azerbaijan Grand Prix practice on Friday, the eighth round of the 2022 Formula 1 World Championship.
Red Bull’s Monaco winner Sergio Perez was fastest in FP1 but was beaten in FP2 by Leclerc, who was almost a quarter of a second quicker than the Mexican.
Azerbaijan Grand Prix FP1 results: Perez fastest from Leclerc
| Cla | Driver | Chassis | Laps | Time | Gap | Interval | km/h |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Sergio Perez |
Red Bull | 21 | 1'45.476 | 204.888 | ||
| 2 |  Charles Leclerc |
Ferrari | 21 | 1'45.603 | 0.127 | 0.127 | 204.641 |
| 3 |  Max Verstappen |
Red Bull | 25 | 1'45.810 | 0.334 | 0.207 | 204.241 |
| 4 |  Carlos Sainz |
Ferrari | 22 | 1'46.012 | 0.536 | 0.202 | 203.852 |
| 5 | Fernando Alonso |
Alpine | 22 | 1'46.571 | 1.095 | 0.559 | 202.783 |
| 6 |  Lewis Hamilton |
Mercedes | 21 | 1'46.667 | 1.191 | 0.096 | 202.600 |
| 7 |  Yuki Tsunoda |
AlphaTauri | 25 | 1'46.696 | 1.220 | 0.029 | 202.545 |
| 8 | George Russell |
Mercedes | 24 | 1'46.705 | 1.229 | 0.009 | 202.528 |
| 9 |  Pierre Gasly |
AlphaTauri | 25 | 1'46.830 | 1.354 | 0.125 | 202.291 |
| 10 | Esteban Ocon |
Alpine | 21 | 1'46.917 | 1.441 | 0.087 | 202.126 |
| 11 | Lando Norris |
McLaren | 19 | 1'47.691 | 2.215 | 0.774 | 200.674 |
| 12 |  Lance Stroll |
Aston Martin | 24 | 1'47.847 | 2.371 | 0.156 | 200.383 |
| 13 |  Kevin Magnussen |
Haas | 24 | 1'47.946 | 2.470 | 0.099 | 200.200 |
| 14 |  Sebastian Vettel |
Aston Martin | 22 | 1'47.970 | 2.494 | 0.024 | 200.155 |
| 15 |  Valtteri Bottas |
Alfa Romeo | 22 | 1'48.078 | 2.602 | 0.108 | 199.955 |
| 16 |  Zhou Guanyu |
Alfa Romeo | 24 | 1'48.222 | 2.746 | 0.144 | 199.689 |
| 17 |  Alex Albon |
Williams | 22 | 1'48.419 | 2.943 | 0.197 | 199.326 |
| 18 |  Daniel Ricciardo |
McLaren | 22 | 1'48.810 | 3.334 | 0.391 | 198.610 |
| 19 | Nicholas Latifi |
Williams | 7 | 1'50.921 | 5.445 | 2.111 | 194.830 |
| 20 | Mick Schumacher |
Haas | 3 | 1'58.332 | 12.856 | 7.411 | 182.628 |
| View full results | |||||||
What happened in Azerbaijan GP Free Practice 1?
Red Bull’s world championship leader Max Verstappen set the early pace on mediums at 1m46.477s, 0.068s ahead of Perez. Ferrari initially ran the hard tyre, with Leclerc in P3 but over half a second off the pace.
After switching to softs, Verstappen lowered the bar to 1m45.810s before Perez set the fastest time of the session with 1m45.476s, a third of a second quicker.
Leclerc then split the Red Bulls with a 1m45.603s, 0.127s off Perez. Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz was fourth, over half a second off, while Fernando Alonso was best of the rest for Alpine, albeit 1.095s off the pace.
Verstappen, whose DRS flap was fluttering wildly when open, suffered a late spin at Turn 15.
The session was interrupted by two virtual safety cars, the first for Mick Schumacher’s Haas – which poured its coolants on to the track when a water hose broke – and, later on, Nicholas Latifi’s Williams ground to a halt at Turn 5 after its electrics died and also needed retrieving.
The Turn 4 run-off was visited by Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) and Lance Stroll (Aston Martin), and the latter also clipped the wall at the exit of Turn 15 early on. AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly also suffered a huge lock-up but didn’t hit anything.
Azerbaijan Grand Prix FP2 results: Leclerc fastest from Perez
| Cla | Driver | Chassis | Laps | Time | Gap | Interval | km/h |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Charles Leclerc |
Ferrari | 24 | 1'43.224 | 209.358 | ||
| 2 | Sergio Perez |
Red Bull | 22 | 1'43.472 | 0.248 | 0.248 | 208.856 |
| 3 | Max Verstappen |
Red Bull | 18 | 1'43.580 | 0.356 | 0.108 | 208.638 |
| 4 | Fernando Alonso |
Alpine | 22 | 1'44.142 | 0.918 | 0.562 | 207.512 |
| 5 | Carlos Sainz |
Ferrari | 25 | 1'44.274 | 1.050 | 0.132 | 207.250 |
| 6 | Pierre Gasly |
AlphaTauri | 26 | 1'44.315 | 1.091 | 0.041 | 207.168 |
| 7 | George Russell |
Mercedes | 26 | 1'44.548 | 1.324 | 0.233 | 206.706 |
| 8 | Yuki Tsunoda |
AlphaTauri | 24 | 1'44.567 | 1.343 | 0.019 | 206.669 |
| 9 | Esteban Ocon |
Alpine | 24 | 1'44.609 | 1.385 | 0.042 | 206.586 |
| 10 | Lando Norris |
McLaren | 23 | 1'44.771 | 1.547 | 0.162 | 206.267 |
| 11 | Sebastian Vettel |
Aston Martin | 27 | 1'44.781 | 1.557 | 0.010 | 206.247 |
| 12 | Lewis Hamilton |
Mercedes | 25 | 1'44.874 | 1.650 | 0.093 | 206.064 |
| 13 | Lance Stroll |
Aston Martin | 26 | 1'44.874 | 1.650 | 0.000 | 206.064 |
| 14 | Daniel Ricciardo |
McLaren | 25 | 1'45.059 | 1.835 | 0.185 | 205.701 |
| 15 | Valtteri Bottas |
Alfa Romeo | 25 | 1'45.115 | 1.891 | 0.056 | 205.591 |
| 16 | Zhou Guanyu |
Alfa Romeo | 24 | 1'45.264 | 2.040 | 0.149 | 205.300 |
| 17 | Kevin Magnussen |
Haas | 26 | 1'45.588 | 2.364 | 0.324 | 204.670 |
| 18 | Alex Albon |
Williams | 13 | 1'46.397 | 3.173 | 0.809 | 203.114 |
| 19 | Mick Schumacher |
Haas | 21 | 1'46.425 | 3.201 | 0.028 | 203.061 |
| 20 | Nicholas Latifi |
Williams | 26 | 1'47.218 | 3.994 | 0.793 | 201.559 |
| View full results | |||||||
What happened in Azerbaijan GP Free Practice 2?
All teams ran the medium tyre at the start of the session, with Leclerc setting the initial bar at 1m43.806s, 0.03s ahead of Verstappen, with Perez another tenth slower.
Leclerc switched to softs and unleashed a 1m43.224s. Sainz was on a potentially faster lap but locked up at Turn 16 and ran wide, ruining his soft-tyre run.
Perez was 0.248s slower than Leclerc after his first attempt but went off at Turn 1 on his second push lap. Leclerc then locked up and overshot Turn 8.
Perez went off again, this time botching the laps of Verstappen and Sainz, who were running behind him. Verstappen finally got a lap in on well-used softs but stayed third from a soft-shod Alonso in fourth. Sainz was fifth, relying on his earlier medium-tyre time, ahead of Gasly.
Leclerc reported a loss of power in the closing minutes of his long run but the team reassured him it was fine.
Haas’s Kevin Magnussen ran straight on at Turn 3, while Alex Albon smacked the wall and damaged the right-front corner of his Williams. Schumacher ran long at Turn 4, as did Stroll and Sainz at Turn 15.
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