Red Bull sets the pace again and Alonso surprises.
Sergio Pérez, winner of the last race this season in Monaco, has made a strong start to the F1 Azerbaijan Grand Prix on the streets of Baku. The Mexican, who also won at this circuit last year, has led the Free Practice 1 session, where Fernando Alonso has surprised with a fifth position achieved in the last moments.
‘Checo’ is at his best since he became a Formula 1 driver, since for the first time he has a winning car, and he is going to try to take advantage of it on circuits where it has always gone very well, as is the case in Baku. In the first opportunity he has had, the Mexican has overtaken Verstappen, who was third in Free Practice 1, three tenths behind his teammate.
Although it is only the first practice sessions, in Monaco we already saw that when Pérez feels comfortable with the car, from the first minute he puts it in the lead and (almost) nothing is saved. Between the two Red Bull has ‘slipped’ Charles Leclerc, who this weekend will try to put Ferrari back on top; the Monegasque has stayed one tenth behind Pérez.
Behind the first three, half a second behind the leader and four tenths behind his teammate, Carlos Sainz stopped the clock, starting the weekend one step behind Leclerc, and it was also seen how he suffered ‘porpoising’. At this circuit, the Spaniard has a best result of 5th in 2018… and if he gains confidence with the F1-75, he will be at the top.
Who we weren’t expecting so high up was Fernando Alonso, who set the fifth fastest time of the day, with a time of 1:46.571 achieved in the last moments of the session when the track was better. Alonso has put in epic performances here and always surprises although, as he said at a press conference, it will take many incidents to repeat a result like this on Sunday.
Lewis Hamilton was sixth, again complaining about the rebound of his Mercedes, and his teammate George Russell was eighth fastest, with Yuki Tsunoda between the two star cars. Pierre Gasly ninth and Esteban Ocon tenth have completed the top ten positions.
As is often the case in Azerbaijan, during the session we have seen brushes with the wall and several run-offs, although there have been no serious incidents. The only neutralizations have been caused by Mick Schumacher in the first minutes and later by Nicholas Latifi; both suffered mechanical problems that forced them to stop.
The F1 will return to the track from 4:00 p.m. this afternoon.
