Verstappen tops heavily disrupted session with new Red Bull upgrades
Max Verstappen topped the first free practice session for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix weekend as Red Bull Racing introduced new upgrades. The session was heavily disrupted, with three red flags. Lewis Hamilton finished second, with Sergio Perez in third. Lando Norris rounded out the top four.
With five minutes remaining, Verstappen put the soft tyres on and completed a lap in anger. He was quickest in sector one and two, but lost a bit of time in sector three compared to the best in the session. It was good enough overall to take him to P2. Right at the end of the session, Verstappen moved to the top of the timesheets. Red Bull Racing introduced new upgraded this weekend as they hope to recover from the disappointing Italian GP weekend. Sergio Perez finished third fastest with a late lap. Mercedes decided to run their older floor for this session.
Heavily disrupted session
Early in the session, a few drivers voiced complaints on the radio. This included Lance Stroll who said: "this is not a car". Lewis Hamilton reported a hot seat, while George Russell was concerned about his elbow. Oscar Piastri experienced some bottoming and wanted a small tweak to be made. The session was red flagged for the first time with a piece of debris found on the circuit.
When the session resumed, Esteban Ocon had to return to the pits. Alpine later confirmed to GPblog that the Frenchman was out of FP1 as the team investigated a PU related issue. Sainz caused a yellow flag as he overran the corner at turn seven. He had to reverse up the track but the problems were worse for his teammate Charles Leclerc. The man from Monaco crashed into the wall, wrecking the front of the car. He was unable to complete the remaining 30 minutes of the session.
With around 15 minutes remaining, Franco Colapinto had a crash. Logan Sargeant was dismissed from Williams after he crashed during the Dutch Grand Prix weekend. It wasn't the only reason, but it was the final straw. The American had a lot of upgrades on the car, and James Vowles decided enough was enough. This weekend in Baku, his replacement Franco Colapinto has crashed in FP1 and caused a lot of damage.
Colapinto lost control in the streets of Baku. On the challenging street circuit, Colapinto drifted into the barriers. It was a relatively slow-speed crash, but the angle of the crash caused a lot of damage to the left side of the car. Last time out, the Argentine performed well in Monza and finished 12th. After 45 minutes in FP1, Colapinto was slightly faster than his teammate Alex Albon. When the session restarted, Albon stopped in sector one but was able to continue.
Nah, I do not believe that RBR sorted out their problems. I remember fans saying that racing was not won with FP1, FP2 and FP3. McLaren holding back in FP1. McLaren 1 and 2 on Sunday.
Great comeback by RedBull and Max, the car looks much better and Max is sublime around this track. Looking foward to how the next session shapes up.
If it is really so and RB returns to the top, then the speculation about the valve is unfounded.
Let's just wait until the end of the season before concluding anything. Another theory that has been floating around is that Redbull deliberately slowed down after China on request of FIA to make it more interesting for the viewers. Horner even mentioned it after Monza.
@Divergent2 I wouldn't put it past the FIA or CH, at least it's made this season less "boring ".
I have wondered about that too. It's amazing and unprecedented as to how RB's performance has dropped in the last few races.
The FIA would clear that up with some spot checks I am sure the rest of grid would be asking that question of the FIA. The car is looking balanced and with the new floor Max is looking more confident, also let's see the margin he gets pole by that will give us a better indication
I believe that if the valve was really their secret advantage, victory or pole would no longer be possible.
As I said. He has one hand on the title. His to lose. Max is back folks! Chin up it's not doom and gloom. Aaaand breathe.
Calm down, it's just FP1. Car actually did look lively on Max's onboard and both drivers seemed to have lifted (Ver and Per were 0.8s and 0.4s up resp after 2nd sector) in the third sector which is basically a long straight.
No, no come on! Max is back and he's fastest!!! We should rejoice and at least take this as sign of whats to come! Hard to be calm...I'm shaking with excitement! SuperMax is gonna win in Baku. The track suits the car this time and Max will extend his already large championship lead. Mark my words and watch this space. Even Perez is performing well, that that was expected here as he like street tracks and beat Max here last time out. Did Red Bull find an actual upgrade that works? It seems to. Nah, this race is Max's to lose now. He's got this. Have faith. He likes a lively car.
yeah it's not nice when I praise Max is it? Makes you shudder. Don't worry, it's a temporary effect. Meantime, enjoy Max being fastest of anyone in FP1! Incredible job he did turning that wheel and pressing those pedals. He did it betterer than anyone else. RB are back and they did it without Newey! Gotta give them credit there.
Lmao. That is a funny comment from you. I laughed all the way.
Depends which session you're referring to. FP1, FP2 or a future event such as quali or race.
Max behind Lewis at Baku. Would you say that is wishful thinking from my side?
Then it had the desired effect. :) Seriously though, Max wins this weekend. Barring a retirement, he's got this in the bag. Watch Max dominate everyone in FP2 also! You'll see.
Or it could be that the car/upgrades is setup for the twisty parts, sacrificing top speed.
I expect Max to challenge for wins as of Austin for sure. That’s when they get their update package to deal with their balance issues. Even despite their current balance issue RBR is still the best car in high speed corners as they have the most “peak” downforce. For this race weekend we”ll need to wait and see, because McL, Merc and Ferrari run plan might have been impacted due to the 3 red flags. But it certainly looks better already than it did in Monza
Well, we'll see. It looks like RB have finally brought a working update into Baku. Maybe it's just this racetrack but if so, Max needs to capitalise on it and win.
Yes, I agree. It indeed looks like the floor update worked. Though I would be more shocked if it didn’t worked as they ran many different floors in Zandvoort and Monza. Plenty of data to compare what should work and what not. Let’s see in FP2. There are still too many variables to really say RBR is back. Track evolution being one of them.
Yeah, we'll see how the weekend develops. It's certainly looking better for RB than of recent times.
He is. He's got the win this weekend. Normality has resumed!
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