Pérez Fastest in Azerbaijan Grand Prix First Practice

Sergio Pérez began the Azerbaijan Grand Prix the same way he ended the Monaco Grand Prix and last year’s race at the Baku City Circuit, on top. The Oracle Red Bull Racing driver topped the session after running on the Soft tyres, clocking a 1:45.476.

The usual protagonists were close behind, with Charles Leclerc in second +0.127s adrift of the Mexican with championship leader Max Verstappen in third +0.334s behind. The second Scuderia Ferrari of Carlos Sainz Jr rounded off the top four, who were well ahead of the rest. Half a second separated the top four, whereas Fernando Alonso in fifth was an entire second behind Pérez.

The BWT Alpine F1 Team have brought some “circuit-specific modifications” to Baku, which appear to be working well thus far. Lewis Hamilton was sixth after the opening session, however, the Brit was one of a number of drivers to experience from vicious porpoising down the 2.22km main straight. The sheer volume and aggressiveness of the porpoising was highly likely to have been as a result of the typically windy conditions in Baku, with many on the grid complaining of the conditions.

Yuki Tsunoda impressed in seventh-place, just ahead of George Russell, Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon who rounded-off the top ten. Lando Norris who finished the session in eleventh, was staggeringly +2.2s off the pace, with the entire field being seperated by over three seconds.

At the bottom of the timesheets sat Nicholas Latifi and Mick Schumacher, two drivers who are driving for their Formula 1 careers. It was the worst possible start to the weekend for both of them, Latifi’s car “just died” after seven laps of running and Schumacher had to park his VF22 before even setting a laptime. The young German suffered from a suspected water pressure issue.

Azerbaijan Grand Prix Free Practice 1 Full Results: