A one-two punch! Charles Leclerc had started the Azerbaijan GP off badly by crashing at turn 15 in the first free practice session. The Monegasque had not fitted the soft tyres because the mechanics had started to repair his Ferrari. At the start of the second session Charles complained that something was wrong with the front of his SF-24. He was right: there was a problem with the steering box which had been replaced, so the Ferrari driver lost a bit more time. Nothing serious because when he was able to fit a set of soft tyres, in one run he put the red car ahead of everyone in 1’43″484. It is true that Leclerc sought performance on a track with more rubber, but the encouraging data for the Prancing Horse team remains: the little prince has erased the crash of the morning and resumed the conversation interrupted in Monza with the victory in the Italian GP.
The red one preceded the revived Sergio Perez with the Red Bull: the Mexican obtained his 1’43″490 well in advance, finishing 6 thousandths behind Leclerc. Here there are two news: the awakening of Checo with the RB20 that has been modified in the diffuser and the car from Milton Keynes seems more competitive compared to the disappointment from Brianza.
In the analysis of the world champions, however, there is an anomalous Max Verstappen who took half a second from his teammate. The Dutchman did not find the balance he was looking for: he was blinded by a ray of sun and ended up long. He changed his helmet with a darker visor, but the music did not change: he aborted a lap with the soft, showing a good pace in the first two sections of the track and lightening up in the final. Flat engine or desire to hide?
Mercedes is also one to keep an eye on because Lewis Hamilton is third, just 66 thousandths behind Leclerc, a sign that the W15 is also competitive on a track that is still very dirty (compared to last year it has not been washed with high-pressure water), resulting in it being three seconds slower.
Carlos Sainz is fifth with the other Ferrari: the Spaniard pays half a second from his teammate, but after having grazed a barrier and gone wide during the long run, Carlos did not want to take any risks.
Don’t be surprised by McLaren only fifth with Oscar Piastri in the dry lap: the Woking team on Friday sets programs that are often different from the others, so much so that we see Lando Norris only in 17th place. The Englishman didn’t spare a middle finger to Pierre Gasly for a very close encounter. It went well, nothing happened, but the situation could have been very worrying. The Australian amazed in the mini long run by keeping an unsustainable pace for everyone with a gap of a tenth for several laps. The MCL38 confirms that it is the reference single-seater, but the four top teams, at least for now, are very close.
In seventh place this time is Lance Stroll with the Aston Martin: the Canadian took the place of Fernando Alonso in the morning who, instead, slipped to 12th. Behind the green are the Haas: Nico Hulkenberg has regained the leadership in the team. The German is eighth, with Ollie Bearman tenth, but the two are separated by the blink of an eye. Unthinkable that the W15 of George Russell has joined the Haas pair.
Yuki Tsunoda with Racing Bulls is 11th: the Japanese returns to the lead in Faenza with Daniel Ricciardo tied to 16th place. Williams with the FW46 is 13th with Alexander Albon closely followed by Franco Colapinto. The Argentinean erased the bang in the first session, obtaining a performance similar to that of his more experienced teammate.
Valtteri Bottas is doing 15th with Sauber (the Finn is looking for a contract renewal), while Guanyu Zhou is last, disappointing and unmotivated. Bad for Alpine with Pierre Gasly just ahead of Esteban Ocon who had his engine replaced after the problems in the morning.
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