Perez fastest as wind and bouncing plagues teams during FP1

Sergio Perez has built on his Monaco Grand Prix win by setting the pace during Free Practice 1 at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, at the track where he took his first Red Bull victory in 2021.

The Mexican driver completed fewer laps than his direct rivals, but set the fastest time of 1:45.476 through the Baku streets.

The lap was 0.127 seconds faster than Charles Leclerc, who was second fastest, and 0.334 quicker than teammate Max Verstappen, who will be keen to ensure he stops Perez from building on his triumph last time out.

Carlos Sainz was fourth, over half a second off the pace, with the rest of the field over a second behind Perez's time.

The problems facing teams in Baku

There appeared to be two big problems facing teams in Baku as they took to the street track for the first time with their new 2022 cars: bouncing and wind.

There were drivers from up and down the grid complaining of bouncing/porpoising down Baku's long straight, while Red Bull's rear wing – which appeared to be flexing excessively at high speed – caught the eye of the Ferrari pit wall.

At one stage, Lewis Hamilton crossed the pit entry line to return to the race track, with his Mercedes team reminding him not to do that. He replied: "It was so bumpy, I couldn't see the line!"

Verstappen, meanwhile, was having trouble pushing his car to the limit in the windy conditions. The Baku City Circuit is one of the calendar's gustier venues, with teams expecting the wind to potentially cause them problems on race day.

More woes for Schumacher amid criticism

There were more woes for Mick Schumacher, following a fortnight in which he has been subject to plenty of criticism for his recent crashes.

Guenther Steiner has told Schumacher that Haas simply cannot afford repeats of incidents in Saudi Arabia and Monaco, but it was the team to blame for their latest problem when a fluid leak forced him to retire from the session early.

Nicholas Latifi also hit problems early on when his Williams car ground to a sudden halt. He had taken a new power unit ahead of the session. The team say they are investigating the issue.