Baku’s street circuit creates headaches galore in test prep for Sunday’s race.
BAKU, Azerbaijan –April 26th—It might have been a crazy day of loose drain covers, overused tires, and crashes in the streets of this oil-rich capital, but it was Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc who hammered out the fastest time. Leclerc performed in the second session with a time of 1:42:842 to take the top spot in Friday’s Practice in preparation for Sunday’s Grand Prix of Azerbaijan.
While the 21-year-old from Monaco was the fastest, it was no fluke that this street circuit favored the Prancing Horse. Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel took the second-best time, with Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton third, sixth-tenths behind.
The action began in the opening morning session, as Williams’ driver George Russell ran over a loose drain cover, which destroyed his car enough so that the Briton missed free practice two. Meanwhile, the FIA stewards had to cancel the session and inspect the track, which contained 300-plus drain covers. That took a couple of hours before the next practice session took place on time.
Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc of Monaco steers his car during the first free practice at the Baku Formula One city circuit in Baku, Azerbaijan, Friday, April 26, 2019. The Formula One race will be held on Sunday. (AP Photo/Sergei Grits)
But the second session was as crazy as the first! All afternoon, the session was start-stop. Two red flag sessions occurred when both Lance Stroll and Dani Kvyat, who was celebrating his birthday, had his candles blown out when both struck the wall on turns five and six, respectively.
Renault couldn’t do any better with Nico Hulkenberg and Daniel Ricciardo, who could never find their balance of the car because of so many stoppages. Ricciardo especially was strong, but overshot many corners, and skidded the tires many times to the point where there were no more that day to supply him. Ricciardo finished 15th, while Hulkenberg was 17th out of 20 drivers.
For the top ten, Max Verstappen was fourth for Red Bull, while Valtteri Bottas took a disappointing fifth. Despite his earlier accident, Kvyat finished in sixth, with McLaren’s Carlos Sainz Jr. seventh. Alexander Albon, Pierre Gasly and Lando Norris took the last three positions in the top ten.
The limited amount of time for Friday practice makes it difficult to predict who will have the upper hand by race day. However, a third practice was scheduled for today along with qualifying later that day. Perhaps this will give drivers a better understanding of a street circuit.
