F1 | Ferrari with a good balance, Red Bull plays on PU and DRS

Three drivers and three teams within just 66 thousandths of each other. The first day of free practice in Baku saw several teams in good form and with legitimate ambitions for the weekend, with Charles Leclerc and Ferrari confident they can continue on the good path seen on Friday.

On a track that is still very dirty and slippery, so much so that it is significantly slower than last year’s FP1 times, the drivers struggled to find the limit and no one managed to put together the perfect lap. Undoubtedly, this takes on an even broader meaning on a circuit like Baku, where between walls and violent braking, even a little more confidence can really make the difference.

In these conditions, it is difficult to define the general framework of the hierarchies, also because several elements could play a key role tomorrow, such as the preparation of the tyres in the qualifying lap, the improvement of the track conditions and any episodes that could reshuffle the starting grid. However, in this context of uncertainty, where even the race pace was often altered by the slipstreaming, in reality from the first day of free practice some aspects emerged that need to be explored in greater depth.

Ferrari among the most complete on Friday, but watch the weather

Charles Leclerc is traditionally one of the drivers to watch in Baku, the track where he scored his first points in Formula 1. It is therefore not surprising that, despite being less consistent than his rivals due to an accident in FP1 and a problem in FP2, he has the fastest time of the day.

Overall, looking at the car’s behavior during the day, one could say that the SF-24 seemed to have the best balance and was the easiest to drive, especially in the medium-low speed sections of the second sector where there are many 90°C corners. It was precisely in sections like turns 4, 5-6, 7 and 8 that the Monegasque found most of the time that allowed him to end the day in the lead. On the contrary, the opponents, especially McLaren and Mercedes, showed a car that was at times more unbalanced and difficult to predict, recovering much of the advantage exiting the castle area towards the braking point of turn 15. Furthermore, during the championship the Prancing Horse has shown that it has a competitive car in the braking phase.

Overall, the SF-24 has often shown good indications in slow but sharp corners, because the problem at the start of the season was especially noticeable in that type of corners with low mileage, but also prolonged where a good front was needed. From this point of view, the Reds have made some steps forward with the innovations brought during the season. Added to this is also a certain effectiveness on the long straights that characterise Baku: with its medium-low downforce wing, the Reds were the most consistent on the straights together with Mercedes. To give an idea, before the opening of the DRS the gap on Perez was around 3-4 km/h on the main straight, then widening with Verstappen, who set his best time with even more conservative mappings.

However, there is a very interesting aspect to highlight about Leclerc’s performance. Undoubtedly, the Monegasque achieved his best time later than his rivals, when the track was in better conditions but, on the other hand, he also had a fair amount of fuel on board, given that he then continued for several laps returning to the average but without topping up.

Leclerc-Hamilton FP2 Baku telemetry comparison

Photo by: Gianluca D’Alessandro

It is certainly a Ferrari that will have to pay attention to the evolution of the track, given that in the past it has been burned by this issue several times. It is no coincidence that Carlos Sainz has underlined how in the rest of the weekend all the leading drivers will be close, but also that the result will depend on the details: on a track where the rubber tends to cool down on the long straights but also to heat up in the traction areas, it will be essential to be able to find the right balance throughout the entire lap.

Red Bull plays with the Power Unit, while the DRS effect is reviewed

After the disappointment of Monza, Red Bull was probably the team that was receiving the most attention. The Milton Keynes team showed up in Baku with a revised diffuser at the end, with a first step waiting for other updates to arrive after the three-week break after Singapore.

The best news for Red Bull is that the drivers ended the first day of free practice with the beginning of a smile, for what was probably the best Friday in a long time. Verstappen himself also underlined that, if they could make another step forward in terms of balance, then there would be the opportunity to be competitive throughout the weekend. Perhaps the last Friday that was so convincing was Spa, but on a very different track.

Baku does not showcase the absolute strengths of the RB20, but it has the advantage of having very similar corners, with numerous sections consisting of medium-low 90°C corners. This makes it easier to find the balance, especially for a team like Red Bull, which has struggled on this front recently. There remains some understeer, which represents the challenge that the engineers will have to try to mitigate before qualifying.

Leclerc-Verstappen FP2 Baku telemetry comparison

Photo by: Gianluca D’Alessandro

However, on a day that returned a Sergio Perez reinvigorated by the air of the Caspian Sea and a track where he has always been competitive in the past, the most interesting aspect to note is the difference in mapping that was noted not only compared to other teams, but also within the same team. During his best lap, the Mexican felt about 3/4 km/h of difference compared to Ferrari and Mercedes on most of the final stretch, with a difference that was only filled when the DRS opened. A demonstration of how, at least from what we saw on Friday, the mobile wing of the Milton Keynes team can prove to be an important tool, especially bearing in mind that for 2024 the DRS zone has been lengthened by 100 meters and that the RB20 travels more loaded than its rivals.

Differences that, however, are amplified if the yardstick is Max Verstappen. Looking at his references, the Dutchman actually demonstrated good competitiveness on the lap, especially in the castle area, where he was among the fastest, so much so that he could have finished with the best time of the day. However, the deficit on the straights was felt significantly, not only on the start straight, where he even reached a gap of 10 km/h from the Ferrari, but also on the extension up to the braking point of turn 15. Even in this case, however, in the areas where it is possible to use the DRS the speed delta is significantly reduced. Red Bull has a tendency to use more conservative mappings during the first day, but the crucial aspect is above all that the drivers have found more predictable behavior from the car since Friday.

Mercedes very fast on the straights, McLaren is the unknown

Along with Ferrari and Red Bull, Mercedes also entered the first day, undoubtedly making top speed on the straights its best weapon in Baku. However, this is not a real surprise, given that on several occasions this season the W15 has performed well in terms of top speed already on Friday, with slightly more aggressive mappings than its rivals.

On the other hand, however, the W15 also seemed like a car more on the limit to drive, a feeling that was also present in Holland and Monza. This was especially evident in the change of direction between turns 5 and 6 where Hamilton was the protagonist of a big oversteer losing the rear of the car: this behavior was also observed in other parts of the lap. George Russell’s session was much more complex, given that not only did he miss part of the free practice due to problems on the PU side, but also due to the difficulties in bringing the tires into the ideal operating window, an aspect in which the W15 is still a bit lacking as it does not have a wide window. Hamilton and Russell however tried the hard during the long runs, among other things on the day in which Mercedes took a step back on the floor abandoning the specification introduced in Spa.

Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes F1 W15

Photo by: Simon Galloway / Motorsport Images

Much stranger was the day for McLaren, who, in reality, did not seem as competitive as in other events in absolute terms. Undoubtedly there are mitigating factors on Norris’ time, such as the traffic due to the technical problem suffered by Pierre Gasly: ​​without that episode, which actually cost a lot of time, the McLaren driver would have been fighting for the best time, which would have realistically led to 4 cars from four different teams in about a tenth.

It is no coincidence that his best time is not on the soft, but on the medium: in fact, even in the second lap launched on the softer compound, Norris made a mistake exiting turn two and at the chicane six-seven, losing a lot of time. Oscar Piastri’s lap was much more anonymous, but he was the author of an interesting long run on the medium, at least before he encountered traffic in the final part of the run. It is clear, however, that on this first day we saw four cars potentially enclosed within a few hundredths and, as Carlos Sainz said, the details could really make the difference.