F1: Charles Leclerc tops 2nd practice in Baku

Charles Leclerc once again has shown the speed of the 2022 Ferrari by comfortably topping the 2nd practice session for the Azerbaijan GP with a lap of 1m43.224s.

The two Red Bulls of Sergio Perez and Max Verstappen were 2nd and 3rd, 0.248s and 0.356s behind respectively.  Perez’s time was particularly impressive in that his time was set on the harder medium tires.

Fernando Alonso was 4th for Alpine while Carlos Sainz Jr. rounded out the top-5 in the 2nd Ferrari.

Early medium-tired efforts saw Leclerc go fastest with a 1m 43.806s, Verstappen trailing by just 0.030s despite spending the first 15 minutes of FP2 in the garage with works undertaken on his rear wing and DRS actuator.

Softs came out after 30 minutes and Leclerc improved to a time of 1m 43.224s before going off and avoiding the walls at Turn 7. He wasn’t the only one to make a mistake on a challenging, gusty afternoon at Baku – nor was he the only one to endure heavy porpoising on the main straight.

Perez improved to go within 0.248s of Leclerc in P2 but an off-track excursion in Sector 3 saw him bring out a yellow flag and compromise team mate Verstappen’s first effort to set a soft-tired lap. The Dutchman then improved to go 0.356s behind Leclerc in third.

‘More to follow….

Practice 2 Results