Azerbaijan – Free Practice 2: between two red flags, Leclerc ahead of Vettel!
Scuderia Ferrari flexed its muscles this afternoon in Baku, during a second free practice session marked by two crashes, those of Lance Stroll and Daniil Kvyat.
After an unfortunate incident involving George Russell’s Williams and a manhole cover, this FP2 session was of paramount importance for the rest of the weekend. Indeed, the cancellation of FP1 this morning left teams without data, except for Scuderia Ferrari, as Sebastian Vettel and Charles Leclerc had the opportunity to complete a flying lap.
Coincidence or not, these same drivers dominated the second practice session… Leclerc ahead of Vettel! The Monegasque quickly took the lead of the session on his third flying lap and held it until the end. Ultimately, his time of 1:42.872 remained the best of the day. His teammate, a four-time world champion, followed but was three-tenths behind. Satisfaction for the Reds: Lewis Hamilton, in third, was only seven-tenths of a second away. Fourth, Max Verstappen managed to place his Red Bull between the two Mercedes, a tenth ahead of Bottas.
Beyond the ranking, the session was marked by two major crashes. Undecided between taking the third turn and using the escape route, Lance Stroll ended his session in the wall, severely damaging his Racing Point, with the front left tire bent.
Another misfortune a little later, for Daniil Kvyat! Although sixth in the standings, the Russian, who is celebrating his birthday today, encountered several problems. First held up in the pits due to a steering wheel issue, Kvyat then lost control of his Toro Rosso at the exit of the seventh turn, one of the tightest on the Azerbaijani circuit. His damaged car, which caught fire, caused the second red flag interruption, for an additional seven minutes. The session was able to resume afterward until its conclusion.
Carlos Sainz took the opportunity to secure the seventh-fastest time, ahead of the other Toro Rosso driven by Alexander Albon. Seen sideways in a runoff area, Pierre Gasly only finished ninth, ahead of Lando Norris’s McLaren. The next session, FP3 this Saturday at noon, will be crucial for the drivers, forced to adjust their setup in little time, on a low-grip track.
Here is the complete ranking of this second practice session:
After a severely shortened FP1, the drivers were itching to get out in FP2
And it was @ScuderiaFerrari who came out on top in Baku ⏱️#AzerbaijanGP 🇦🇿 #F1 pic.twitter.com/NvD52nsFgY
— Formula 1 (@F1) 26 avril 2019
