Max Verstappen makes ominous start in crash-strewn Baku FP1
Max Verstappen asserts Red Bull's pace early on in Baku by topping first practice.
Max Verstappen set the pace in a crash-strewn opening practice session at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, as Charles Leclerc and F1 newcomer Franco Colapinto both hit the wall.
The reigning world champion posted a 1m45.546 seconds on soft tyres to edge out former title rival Lewis Hamilton to the fastest time by 0.313s as he made an ominous start to the weekend.
Red Bull have brought an upgraded floor to Baku as they look to address their recent performance woes, with the reigning world champions just eight points clear of McLaren in the constructors’ standings.
Sergio Perez was third in the second Red Bull, ahead of title hopeful Lando Norris, who was nearly half a second behind Verstappen in his McLaren as he outpaced Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz and McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri.
FP1 was punctuated by three red flags. The first was caused by debris, before Leclerc plunged into the Turn 15 barriers after taking too much speed into the corner, and Williams rookie Colapinto slid into the wall at Turn 4.
Fernando Alonso put his Aston Martin seventh, with George Russell, Leclerc and Daniel Ricciardo rounding out the rest of the top-10 for Mercedes, Ferrari and RB respectively.
Oliver Bearman made a promising start to his first full F1 weekend as a stand-in for the banned Kevin Magnussen. The British teenager finished 11th fastest and was a tenth quicker than Haas teammate Nico Hulkenberg.
Despite crashing, Colapinto was 16th and narrowly faster than Williams teammate Alex Albon.
Alpine’s Esteban Ocon failed to set a lap time after encountering a power unit issue which brought his participation in FP1 to a premature end.
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