Leclerc heads dominant Ferrari 1-2 in Azerbaijan GP FP2

Charles Leclerc outpaced Formula 1 teammate Sebastian Vettel to lead a dominant Ferrari one-two in an interrupted second practice for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. 

After FP1 was abandoned following a drain-related incident, drivers finally got some running around the Baku City Circuit during a disrupted day of practice, with Leclerc and Vettel trading fastest lap times throughout. 

The 21-year-old Monegasque's best effort came on his third flying lap, as he became the only driver to dip below the 1m43s bracket with a 1m42.872s. Leclerc was 0.324s clear of his four-times world champion teammate Vettel despite a brush with the barriers at Turn 7.

Reigning world champion and current points leader Lewis Hamilton finished over six-tenths off the pace of the lead Ferrari, while Red Bull's Max Verstappen split the Mercedes duo in fourth, ending up nearly a second down on Leclerc but two tenths clear of Valtteri Bottas in fifth.

Having spent nearly an hour of the session restricted to the garage after Toro Rosso discovered a power steering failure on his STR14, Daniil Kvyat set the sixth-quickest time before bringing out a late red flag when he smacked the barriers at Turn 7.

Behind the Russian came McLaren's Carlos Sainz (seventh) and the second Toro Rosso of Alexander Albon (eighth), while Pierre Gasly once again finished well off the pace of Red Bull teammate Verstappen on his way to ninth. Lando Norris ensured both McLaren's made it into the top ten in what was an encouraging session for the British squad. 

Outside of the top ten came Kevin Magnussen's Haas, while Antonio Giovinazzi outpaced experienced teammate Kimi Raikkonen, with Sergio Perez placing his Racing Point inbetween the Alfa Romeo pair in 13th spot. 

It was a difficult day for Renault as Daniel Ricciardo finished a lowly 15th in the timesheets and was forced to end his session early after using up his allocation of tyres following a number of lock-ups throughout FP2.

The Australian was around a tenth clear of the second Haas of Romain Grosjean and teammate Nico Hulkenberg, who finished well off the pace in 17th.

Lance Stroll completed just eight laps before he brought out the first red flag of FP2 when he clouted the wall at Turn 3 early on, destroying the front left suspension on his Racing Point. 

As has been the case for much of 2019 so far, Williams once again propped up the timesheets. Robert Kubica was 19th fastest and over five seconds off the pace, while George Russell was forced to skip the second session altogether with Williams conducting a chassis change following the heavy damage sustained to his FW42 after hitting a loose manhole cover in FP1.