Formula 1 is back in action on the streets of Baku, and according to The Race, practice sessions carry immense weight this weekend as teams roll out substantial upgrade packages designed to unlock vital pace.
Opening practice saw George Russell put Mercedes at the top of the timing sheets with a lap of 1m45.387s. Right behind him, Max Verstappen steered his Red Bull to second place with a gap of 0.400s. Charles Leclerc slotted into third for Ferrari, trailing the pacesetter by 0.404s, while his teammate Lewis Hamilton took fourth place, 0.437s back.
Kimi Antonelli secured fifth for Mercedes with a deficit of 0.878s, followed by Oscar Piastri in sixth for McLaren at 1.011s off the pace. The Racing Bulls pair filled the next positions, with Liam Lawson seventh at 1.053s and Arvid Lindblad eighth at 1.214s. Esteban Ocon rounded out the top ten for Haas in ninth with a 1.237s gap, just ahead of Gabriel Bortoleto who placed tenth for Audi at 1.301s down.
Further back down the order, Nico Hulkenberg took eleventh for Audi ahead of Carlos Sainz in twelfth for Williams and Alex Albon in thirteenth for the second Williams machine. Lando Norris could only manage fourteenth for McLaren, sitting 1.594s adrift, with Ollie Bearman fifteenth for Haas. Pierre Gasly led the Alpine challenge in sixteenth, while Sergio Perez settled into seventeenth for Cadillac.
Closing out the classification, Franco Colapinto took eighteenth for Alpine, Fernando Alonso was nineteenth for Aston Martin, and Isack Hadjar finished twentieth for Red Bull. Lance Stroll landed twenty-first for Aston Martin, and Valtteri Bottas completed the field in twenty-second for Cadillac, finishing 3.928s off the benchmark time.
