F1: Verstappen tops hectic F1 practice in Baku

–by Mark Cipolloni–

Friday morning was the first and only practice session drivers will get for this weekend’s F1 Azerbaijan GP – the first Sprint Race weekend of 2023 using the new format.

With only one practice session to get your car setup, any mistake, any mechanical failure, and your weekend is screwed. And after practice, it is safe to say, some drivers are screwed.

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen turned a lap of 1m42.315s, just about one second slower than last year’s pole time, to nip the Ferrari of Charles Leclerc by just 0.037s to lead the session going into qualifying.

Sergio Perez was third quick, just 0.139s behind his Red Bull teammate.

Carlos Sainz Jr. was 4th in the #55 Ferrari, 0.584s behind, while Lando Norris put his McLaren 5th, his best result all year.

Nyck de Vries was a very impressive sixth for Alpha Tauri.

Lance Stroll pipped Fernando Alonso, who was struggling with his DRS and set his fastest time on the mediums. Alex Albon and Zhou rounded out the top 10, with Lewis Hamilton also on the mediums in P11.

Who is flying and who is struggling? Red Bull had a good session, so did Ferrari and McLaren.

Alpine came off the worst, one car with significant looking damage from a hydraulics issue that caused a fire, and the other one parked up for precautionary checks. Gasly and Ocon managed just 15 laps between them, and none on the soft tires.

Remember, qualifying up next will be setting the grid for the race on Sunday.

Azerbaijan GP Practice Results