2024 Azerbaijan Grand Prix – Free Practice 1 F1 results (Baku)

Here are the complete results from the first practice session for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix at the Baku City Circuit.

Max Verstappen gave Red Bull an injection of hope and confidence as the reigning World Champion set the fastest time of the first practice session in Baku.

Multiple red flags results in stop/start session in Azerbaijan

There were three separate red flags during the first practice session in Baku, with the first of them being just for debris on the track that needed cleaning up.

The second red flag was for a more serious reason though – Ferrari ‘s Charles Leclerc ended up in the barriers halfway through the hour of track running.

The Monegasque driver entered Turn 15 carrying too much speed and understeered into the wall lining the track to rip the right-front corner from his car. Unable to get back to the pits, the session was halted to allow the marshals to clean up and recover the car.

Just minutes after the session resumed, Williams’ Franco Colapinto clouted the barrier at Turn 4 and also brought out the red flags as the damage to his car proved too much to make it back to the garage.

With plenty of dust and debris littering the track in the heart of Baku City, the times continuously improved during the session although the red flags did have an effect on the momentum of the drivers.

Lewis Hamilton had the quickest time for most of the session as he popped in a 1:45.859 for Mercedes, but Red Bull’s Max Verstappen left it late to go quickest by three-tenths of a second.

After a miserable Italian Grand Prix weekend, Verstappen set a 1:45.546 to top the times right at the chequered flag, with Hamilton settling into second.

Encouragingly for Red Bull, Sergio Perez finished in third place and 0.376 down on Verstappen.

Verstappen’s championship rival Lando Norris was fourth for McLaren, almost half a second down on the championship leader, with Carlos Sainz fifth for Ferrari – the Spaniard was one of several drivers to go off into the dusty escape areas around the Baku City Circuit, but managed to extricate himself without any damage.

Oscar Piastri was sixth for McLaren, ahead of Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso in seventh

George Russell was eighth for Mercedes, with Leclerc finishing ninth on the times despite his crash. The top 10 was rounded out by VCARB’s Daniel Ricciardo.

Full report: Azerbaijan GP: Franco Colapinto blots copybook with FP1 crash, so does Charles Leclerc

2024 Azerbaijan Grand Prix – First Practice Results

1. 1. Max Verstappen Red Bull 1:45.546
   
2. 2. Lewis Hamilton Mercedes +0.313
3. 3. Sergio Perez Red Bull +0.376
4. 4. Lando Norris McLaren +0.481
5. 5. Carlos Sainz Ferrari +0.627
6. 6. Oscar Piastri McLaren +0.736
7. 7. Fernando Alonso Aston Martin +0.906
   
8. 8. George Russell Mercedes +0.970
   
9. 9. Charles Leclerc Ferrari +1.062
10. 10. Daniel Ricciardo VCARB +1.141
11. 11. Oliver Bearman Haas +1.427
12. 12. Nico Hulkenberg Haas +1.589
    
13. 13. Lance Stroll Aston Martin +1.638
    
14. 14. Valtteri Bottas Sauber +2.094
    
15. 15. Yuki Tsunoda VCARB +2.162
16. 16. Franco Colapinto Williams +2.355
17. 17. Alex Albon Williams +2.409
18. 18. Pierre Gasly Alpine +3.166
    
19. 19. Zhou Guanyu Sauber +3.506
20. 20. Esteban Ocon Alpine No time

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