Bulls Lead The Way In Baku
Our return to Baku got off to a very strong start as Red Bull Racing recorded a one-two and all four Honda-powered cars ended Friday practice in the top ten.
After a year off the calendar last year, the Azerbaijan Grand Prix is back and provides a unique test as a street circuit with an extremely long straight where top speed and aerodynamic efficiency is crucial. In the opening session, Max was fastest and Sergio ended up fourth after early aero testing.
Pierre was sixth in the opening session for Scuderia AlphaTauri - a little over a half a second slower than Max - while Yuki got to grips with a brand new circuit and ended up 14th after a few off-track moments as he explored the limits.
FP2 saw progress across the board, with Sergio setting the pace and leading a Red Bull one-two, edging out Max by just 0.1s. Pierre was one position higher than in the morning session as he ended up fifth - this time 0.4s off top spot - and Yuki improved to also secure a top ten lap time in tenth, just ahead of Lewis Hamilton.
Some encouraging long runs rounded off a productive opening day, but we’ll now work to hone the set-ups and modes for qualifying and the race.