Charles Leclerc bounces back from crash to head tight FP2
After crashing in FP1, Charles Leclerc puts Ferrari on top in FP2, writes Lewis Larkam in Baku.
Charles Leclerc recovered from an FP1 crash to end Friday’s practice running at the F1 Azerbaijan Grand Prix fastest.
The Ferrari driver posted a lap on soft tyres which was just 0.006 seconds quicker than Red Bull’s Sergio Perez, who demonstrated encouraging pace as he looks to turn around his recent slump in form.
Following on from an erratic FP1 in which he ended up in the Turn 15 barriers, Leclerc continued to have adventures in the second session, but just about kept his car out of the wall.
Lewis Hamilton was third-quickest for Mercedes, only 0.066s behind his future Ferrari teammate.
Carlos Sainz wound up fourth-fastest in the other Ferrari, some 0.466s adrift, with McLaren’s Oscar Piastri completing the top-five.
Championship leader Max Verstappen, who led the timesheet in FP1, ended up sixth, half a second adrift. The Dutchman nearly crashed when he locked up and ran deep into Turn 5, narrowly avoiding hitting the wall.
Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll was seventh, while George Russell found himself in a Haas sandwich in ninth, with Nico Hulkenberg (eighth) and Oliver Bearman managing a time good enough to put him inside the top-10.
Championship hopeful Lando Norris was only 17th after seeing his only soft tyre run compromised when he caught a slow-moving Pierre Gasly through the high-speed kinks leading onto the main straight.
In stark contrast to Friday’s chaotic opening practice which was punctuated by three red flags, there were no suspensions in FP2, despite several drivers getting perilously close to the barriers.
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