What we learned from Friday practice at the 2024 Azerbaijan GP

Charles Leclerc’s FP1 crash threatened to derail Ferrari’s optimism heading into the Azerbaijan Grand Prix weekend, however his chart-topping time in the second free practice session spared his blushes and put the Prancing Horse’s weekend again on monitor.

The Monegasque overcooked it into Flip 15 and couldn’t again out of hitting the wall, sapping at his operating in a stop-start opening hour in Baku. So as to add additional insult to damage, he was none too proud of the dealing with traits of his Ferrari SF-24 on his return to the monitor in FP2, citing “heavy” steering and frightened that his automobile was “bent someplace”.

A rethink with set-up ensured he was happier on his return to the circuit later, in the end paving the way in which in the direction of a 1m43.484s that nudged him 0.006 seconds away from Baku specialist Sergio Perez.

Perez appeared to encapsulate a mini-revival at Pink Bull after six rounds of toil, a minimum of in comparison with its devastating type within the early section of 2024. And it got here none too quickly, as McLaren appeared to battle with the low-grip Azerbaijani roads that left these on the papaya group scratching their heads after a below-par Friday.

The story of the day

A thrice red-flagged FP1 session meant that the primary hour was troublesome to learn, though Pink Bull could have been nonetheless buoyed by Max Verstappen’s ascent to the highest of the order. Particles produced the primary stoppage, however the subsequent two yielded longer clean-up operations; Leclerc’s incident at Flip 15 handed the marshals a work-out within the heat early afternoon solar, and newcomer Franco Colapinto in the end brought on one other break in proceedings along with his Flip 4 wall-bothering antics. Baku notoriously doesn’t discriminate between drivers of various expertise ranges.

Ferrari a minimum of had Carlos Sainz within the sport within the early a part of FP2, and the Spaniard led the early burst of medium-tyre runs forward of the same old qualifying simulations on smooth tyres. There, Sainz set the benchmark, though this was subsequently overwhelmed by Perez by nearly half a second because the Mexican felt at dwelling on town course.

Leclerc and Ferrari recovered effectively from the Monegasque’s wall hit in FP1

Picture by: Dom Romney / Motorsport Pictures

Nonetheless, Lewis Hamilton’s lap that was over half-a-tenth shy steered that Perez’s effort was beatable, because the Briton had accomplished his run on a used set of softs. Leclerc duly proved that and located a 0.006 second benefit over Perez to finish a turnaround from his morning’s indiscretions.

Ferrari on high – however dealing with a Pink Bull revival?

After a dismal Monza weekend, Pink Bull spent the week in between “licking its wounds” – per chief engineer Paul Monaghan. The group had introduced a brand new ground to Azerbaijan and, though Monaghan said that it was a refined change to the underbody, he hoped that this could assist Pink Bull chart the precise course via the ultimate flyaway rounds.

Lots of the group’s points in latest rounds have stemmed from a collection of stability points, the place the automobile tends to understeer within the low-speed corners and leaves the drivers feeling unsettled on the exit.

Evaluating Perez’s lap to that of Leclerc, there nonetheless seems to be an issue with the behaviour of the RB20 within the opening sector; per GPS knowledge Perez was dropping time within the corners, handing incremental features Leclerc’s means

Whereas Verstappen struggled with continued understeer within the 90-degree corners and later complained in regards to the low-hanging solar peeking via town skyline, Perez quite picked up the tempo.

Evaluating the Mexican’s lap to that of Leclerc, there nonetheless seems to be an issue with the behaviour of the RB20 within the opening sector; per GPS knowledge Perez was dropping time within the corners, handing incremental features Leclerc’s means. This stabilised and the lap began to come back again to Perez via the Previous City sweepers, placing the 2 drivers successfully stage at Flip 16 – the ultimate ‘correct’ nook over a lap of the Baku circuit. And, though Perez gathered a barely higher slingshot in the beginning of the two.2-kilometre (1.37 mile) stretch on Neftchilar Avenue, Leclerc had the higher high finish and crossed the road with a wafer-thin benefit.

Regardless, will probably be a lift to Pink Bull amid its latest lapse in type – Verstappen famous that it was a “constructive” pair of classes, a marked change in his temper from latest rounds. If it may possibly protect that qualifying tempo, then each Verstappen and Perez ought to have the ability to set themselves up for a powerful Sunday run – relying, in fact, on long-run tempo.

Common FP2 medium lengthy runs

Notice: Mercedes solely ran hards, Hamilton doing a mean 1m48.819s throughout a five-lap hard-tyre stint

It’s benefit Ferrari however little splits it from Pink Bull and McLaren on Friday’s medium tyre runs

Picture by: Sam Bloxham / Motorsport Pictures

The long-run instances counsel that Ferrari nonetheless retains a bonus within the early reckoning for race day, whereas Pink Bull is essentially stage with McLaren regardless of the Woking squad’s disappointment with Friday observe. Oscar Piastri appeared to battle a lot much less in comparison with Lando Norris because the Briton cited a relentless battle towards sliding on the lower-grip monitor floor.

Piastri set a string of 1m48s on the high of his medium-tyre stint, though his common grew as his tempo tailed off in the direction of the top of it; Perez was in the meantime extra constant via his consultant run on the C4 tyre. Sainz’s instances must be taken with a small pinch of salt, nevertheless, as two outliers have been faraway from his stint; these have been nevertheless significantly slower than his different instances, suggesting both cool-down laps or visitors had come into play.

It’s troublesome to know the place, at this stage, the place Mercedes suits in. It can seemingly try and run with the medium tyre in FP3 because it carried out its work on the arduous tyres via the second observe session on Friday. Hamilton’s instances seemed aggressive on the C3 arduous tyre, as famous above, however the quick stint size and differing tyre compound imply that it can’t realistically be in comparison with the opposite groups on the medium.

His team-mate George Russell additionally had his operating stymied by a sensor fault, inflicting an information anomaly that pressured the group to curtail his afternoon. Because of this the image is muddied additional; options are that Mercedes must be battling Pink Bull and McLaren, however solely FP3 and qualifying will actually reply that.

Then there’s the query of engine modes, and Verstappen’s comparatively glacial tempo within the ultimate sector relative to Perez (a half-second gulf right here) means that the Dutchman’s engine was turned down whereas his team-mate had the wick barely extra turned up.

The highest 4 groups have a major hole over the remainder of the order, suggesting that solely ninth and tenth are left to play for amongst them. Of be aware was the consistency of Oliver Bearman’s laps in his stint, for which he earned reward from engineer Mark Slade on the pitwall, as {the teenager}’s assortment of laps narrowly put him above Hulkenberg throughout their respective medium-tyre runs.

However Haas was barely behind Alpine and Williams within the battle for the minor factors; Fernando Alonso’s stint paints a bleak image of Aston Martin’s weekend by comparability, however this doesn’t inform the entire story. Lance Stroll’s peak stint instances have been extra aggressive, however not counted for the desk because of the inconsistency of that longer run.

As has been the case for almost all of the 2024 F1 season, a brand new venue has delivered a barely shaken up pecking order

Picture by: Sam Bloxham / Motorsport Pictures

What they mentioned

Perez: “It was undoubtedly a very good, stable day. I believe there are some good fundamentals. We made good progress from FP1 to FP2. We simply must make it possible for we’re capable of progress from right here. And I believe we are able to undoubtedly be within the combine for tomorrow.”

Hamilton: “It was a very good day. I loved right this moment, I hit the bottom operating from the get-go and made incremental steps with the set-up and for as soon as felt like we didn’t have steps that we needed to come again on, it was persistently constructing. I don’t know the way my long term is in comparison with others however we didn’t get an enormous quantity of laps. I believe Pink Bull appear fairly fast as does the Ferrari however we’re there or thereabouts.”

Norris: “We’re fairly a great distance off. I am having to push means an excessive amount of to try to get a lap trip of it clearly. I believe the place Oscar was is sort of extra the place we’re. So I believe if we nail it, we’re nearly there, however I am positive they don’t seem to be even near nailing it but. So yeah, I believe now we have quite a bit to seek out, truthfully, evaluating to Mercedes, Ferrari and Pink Bull, they’re all very related, after which there is a good three, 4 tenths hole again to us. So, a whole lot of work for us to do.”

Norris was downbeat following his Friday exhibiting, however can McLaren flip it round in a single day?

Picture by: Simon Galloway / Motorsport Pictures