Lewis Hamilton led a Ferrari one-two in second practice for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, the seven-time champion set a 41.293 putting himself three-quarters of a tenth faster than teammate Charles Leclerc. Hamilton set his fastest time just after halfway through the session to put himself ahead of his teammate.
Hamilton was given a tow by Leclerc and that gave him the slight advantage on his qualifying simulation, and Ferrari is considering using it in qualifying. Leclerc has taken pole in Baku for the past four years, where his excellence on street circuits and in qualifying is at its most extreme.
Leclerc’s early soft-tyre lap was bested by Hamilton’s 41.543 on mediums, perhaps foreshadowing the difficult choice teams face in qualifying between Pirelli’s softest C5 and C6 compounds. Times were a second faster than they were during FP1 which is expected on a street circuit.
Since the summer break, Hamilton and Leclerc have appeared to be more evenly matched. On Thursday, Hamilton reiterated that he felt he had and the team had “found a couple of things” to help him get on top of their SF-25 car.
On a technical track that Leclerc has consistently starred, Hamilton’s Baku weekend has certainly begun in surefooted fashion – a puncture-triggering brush with the wall in opening practice aside – judging by his pace on both medium and soft tyres in second practice. The question will be McLaren’s true performance.
McLaren’s raw pace was not seen because of the errors made by both drivers on what should have been their fastest laps. It was a messy session for both title rivals Lando Norris crashing out at the start of his qualifying simulation, breaking his rear suspension, while teammate Oscar Piastri’s brush with the wall wrecked his tyres, ending the session tenth and twelfth, respectively.
Norris admitted, “A costly one. It was feeling good until then. I would rather feel like this and find the limits than not push at all.”
But the limited race runs suggest that they remain favourites, as Piastri was fast, so the championship leaders can be expected to remain the team to beat over the weekend. Where they have their first opportunity to wrap up the constructors
George Russell put his Mercedes third as he went four tenths behind Leclerc and a hundredth faster than his teammate Kimi Antonelli. Ollie Bearman, who stood in for Kevin Magnussen a year ago, put his Haas sixth a hundredth behind Antonelli. But Russell did have a moment exiting the Castle section.
Bearman perhaps the surprise of the session, as he went a hundredth faster than Max Verstappen, but the four-time champion was six tenths off the out right pace. Verstappen was nine hundredths ahead of the Racing Bull of Liam Lawson and Esteban Ocon. Alex Albon put his Williams ninth ahead of Norris.
Carlos Sainz missed out on the top ten as he split the McLaren’s; he was just over half a tenth behind Norris and four hundredths faster than Piastri. Piastri is under investigation for a yellow flag infringement.
Isack Hadjar put his Racing Bull a thousandth faster than Yuki Tsunoda, with Gabriel Bortoleto a tenth further behind in the Sauber and Pierre Gasly. Nico Hulkenberg spilt the Aston Martin’s he was half a tenth behind Lance Stroll and almost a tenth and a half faster than Fernando Alonso. Franco Colapinto completed the field, three and a half tenths behind Alonso.
