Azerbaijan GP: Verstappen on top in dramatic sole practice session
28th April 2023Red Bull’s Max Verstappen topped the only practice session of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix weekend ahead of Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and, teammate, Sergio Perez.
How FP1 unfolded…
Ahead of the pit exit light going green, Verstappen headed the queue out of the pit lane albeit he stopped around the corner for a practice start.
Understandably, a lot of the drivers headed out onto the track to gather a considerable amount of data ahead of the sprint, on Saturday, and the Grand Prix, on Sunday.
After the first five minutes, everyone was out on track and – unsurprisingly – the two Red Bulls were at the top of the timing sheets with Sergio Perez on top ahead of Verstappen.
With 53 minutes left on the clock, Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz had a fairly good brush against the wall after the Spaniard took a chunk out of the barrier at turn five. The Spanish Ferrari driver tested the limits of both the track and his car as he rode the kerb at turn five, but Sainz misjudged the distance and collided with the barrier.
The Ferrari driver was able to continue on without issues while the barrier had seen better days.
Alpha Tauri’s Yuki Tsunoda caught the eyes. Replays showed the Japanese driver lose rear-tyre grip at turn three and briefly spun before he collided with the wall. As Tsunoda tried to get going again, the Alpha Tauri suffered a puncture and the tyre worked its way off the rim.
The Alpha Tauri driver tried to return to the pit lane as quickly as he could. Due to the speed that he was returning in, the loose tyre caused some damage to the rear end of his AT04.
Alpine’s Pierre Gasly was seen trundling around the circuit with puffs of smoke popping out the back of his A523, with 45 minutes left to go of Free Practice 1
“Avoid shifting, we’ve got an issue” stated Gasly’s race engineer.
The Frenchman soon pulled off to the side of the circuit at the Castle section as his Alpine bellowed smoke out of the exhaust and roll hoop. A red flag was soon brought out to allow the marshals to put the fire out under the engine cover and extract the stranded Alpine.
However, it wasn’t just Gasly who had car trouble. Haas’ Kevin Magnussen suffered a problem at turn one which meant the Dane was forced to retire out on the circuit.
Shortly after the session went back to green flag conditions, with less than 30 minutes left on the clock, Alpine’s Esteban Ocon saw his practice session come to a premature end as a precaution that he may have a similar hydraulic issue to Gasly.
After the drama, Verstappen remained out on top with the fastest lap, on the medium compound tyres, with a 1:43.834 lap time. Perez (+0.282) and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc (+0.586) sat just behind the defending world champion in second and third respectively.
On the final laps of the session, the top three improved their lap times with Verstappen remaining on top, but Leclerc going faster than Perez on the Monegasque’s final lap.
Top three:
- Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing
- Charles Leclerc, Ferrari
- Sergio Perez, Red Bull Racing
That’s all for the article; Azerbaijan GP: Verstappen on top in dramatic sole practice session!
Who is your early contender for pole position? Let us know in the comments!
Read more Formula 1 here:
- Wolff urges ‘no magic bullet’ as Mercedes look to improve W14
- Franz Tost to stand down from Alpha Tauri at end of year
- F1 reveal Sprint Shootout ahead of Azerbaijan race weekend
- Australian GP promoter found to breach rules after fans invade circuit
- FIA dismiss Haas provisional race classification protest
- Why Verstappen’s inch-perfect grid stop was legal
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Hi, I’m Kamron. I created ApexMotorsports.co.uk in the dying embers of the 2021 Formula 1 world championship. It allowed me freedom to write whatever I wanted to write about which was all things motorsports, my passion.
I have put a lot of effort in over the years to keep this website in its best shape and I’ve loved seeing the brand grow consistently, month-on-month, year-on-year. My ambition is to keep watching this brand grow into a primary outlet of news for all things motorsports whilst fueling my desire to pursue a career in sports journalism, specialising in motorsports.
Kamron Kent
Hi, I'm Kamron. I created ApexMotorsports.co.uk in the dying embers of the 2021 Formula 1 world championship. It allowed me freedom to write whatever I wanted to write about which was all things motorsports, my passion. I have put a lot of effort in over the years to keep this website in its best shape and I've loved seeing the brand grow consistently, month-on-month, year-on-year. My ambition is to keep watching this brand grow into a primary outlet of news for all things motorsports whilst fueling my desire to pursue a career in sports journalism, specialising in motorsports.
