Azerbaijan Grand Prix – Free Practice 1: Verstappen in the lead, Alpine at a standstill

The holidays are over and Formula 1 will immediately attack with a Sprint weekend! It is in Azerbaijan that the teams have unpacked their suitcases and begun the only free practice session of these three days.

Unusual scene in FP1: all the drivers came out as soon as the green light flashed. It must be said that the preparation was going to be very limited before qualifying later in the day. The soft tires were naturally chosen, but many opted for the mediums and Nyck de Vries was the first driver to set a time.

George Russell, on the radio, complained about a quite slippery track: it wasn’t rubberized and the numerous passages would quickly fix this issue.

The two Red Bulls immediately positioned themselves at the forefront, in the order Perez-Verstappen, with the former registering a lap time of 1’47″491 on medium tires. Yuki Tsunoda, on soft tires, managed to place himself between the two drivers.

Fernando Alonso rose to the top of the timesheet before a surprising Lando Norris took his place on hard tires (1’47″146)!

The asphalt being “green”, completely free from any rubber deposits, the lap times quickly dropped: like the two Red Bulls that went under the 1’46” mark. Charles Leclerc, on the other hand, remained in the top positions, demonstrating a potential comeback for Ferrari.

Yuki Tsunoda suffered a puncture halfway through the track, on the right rear wheel: he spun out in Turn 3 and hit the wall. The Japanese driver was able to return to his pits while his AlphaTauri was smoking heavily at the back.

First red flag

At Alpine, the weekend started off very badly for Pierre Gasly: flames were visible under the hood. The session was halted with a red flag after the Normand’s car came to a stop, and then Kevin Magnussen stopped at turn 1. The sight of the smoking Alpine was quite sad.

The session resumed after nearly fifteen minutes of interruption: with the limited amount of remaining time for on-track practice, everyone returned to the track. Well, almost everyone: Esteban Ocon stayed in the garage for some checks. Alpine prioritized the safe route, in anticipation of a hydraulic issue: the session was over for the French team.

Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez were already far ahead of the competition. That was a bad omen for the suspense… that being said, Charles Leclerc, on the hard tire, was only half a second behind the leading cars. The Monegasque and Ferrari were more focused on the race conditions.

The other great surprise came from Alexander Albon, whose 1’45″330 placed him in the Top 10! De Vries was also well positioned, in 6th place, only one second behind Verstappen. The Dutchman even had the highest top speed (342 km/h).

Then, Aston Martin pressed the accelerator: Lance Stroll settled into second place, two tenths behind Verstappen. Fernando Alonso, on the other hand, had not yet completed a fast lap.

Last studious quarter hour

The very last part of the session saw the drivers finally put on the soft tires, whose allocation this weekend is limited to six sets.

Oscar Piastri was the first to set a time on softs, with a provisional 7th place. Alexander Albon temporarily took the lead in his Williams, before Verstappen reclaimed his position…and then Sergio Pérez beat him by three tenths of a second!

Charles Leclerc was definitely struggling to have a clean session: the #16 car went off track twice during this session. However, he reassured himself with the second fastest time, only 93 milliseconds behind Pérez. Carlos Sainz was in 4th place, despite finding a slipstream.

Fernando Alonso, on the other hand, went out, but on medium tires. The Spaniard focused on working on race pace instead of chasing a lap time.

Last year, in FP1, the lap times were at 1’45” – they were clearly beaten this Friday! Charles Leclerc, 2nd in the session, performed well, but Max Verstappen impressed everyone. The reigning double world champion was the logical favorite for pole position.

The results of the Free Practice sessions of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix 2023