Verstappen sets pace as THREE red flags wreck Azerbaijan GP first practice

Max Verstappen emerged quickest from a remarkable first practice session for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix punctuated by three red flags, including a crash for Ferrari's Charles Leclerc.

Less than two weeks after producing a superb drive to win Ferrari's home Italian Grand Prix at Monza, those memories were swiftly banished as Leclerc crashed after 26 minutes of the opening practice session at the Baku Street Circuit.

Leclerc was at the top of the times and had just purpled the first sector on another hot lap when he ploughed nose-first into a barrier at the sharp Turn 15 left-hander.

With the front-right suspension broken given the 90-degree angle of the relevant wheel, Leclerc radioed in that he "took the dirt on the outside" on his approach to the corner. Still, it was evident the three-time polesitter at this circuit was carrying too much speed. 

It was the second red flag of the session as it had also been stopped after 18 minutes to allow a marshal to remove a piece of metal debris off the track, resulting in a five-minute hiatus.

The third then followed with 19 minutes remaining, and this time it was Williams rookie Franco Colapinto, on his first trip to Baku in any category, who smacked into a wall at the Turn 4 right-hander.

Colapinto simply caught a part of the dusty track which resulted in him sliding left-rear first into the concrete, with the resultant force leading to the front-left following suit.

It was Red Bull driver Verstappen who topped the timesheet with a lap of 1:45.546s, finishing 0.313s ahead of Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton, followed by Sergio Perez in his RB20, 0.376s back, followed closely by McLaren's Lando Norris.

Code red for FP1

Given the tricky nature of the Baku Street Circuit, unsurprisingly no driver or team wasted time becoming accustomed to its nuances.

Pirelli's medium-compound tyre was the rubber of choice early on, with Alpine's Pierre Gasly the exception as he opted for the hard.

Following many sighter laps from the drivers, Hamilton was the first to post a time of note with a 1:47.618s before Leclerc edged in front by just over a tenth of a second.

Just before the red flag appeared, Verstappen took over at the top of the timesheet by 0.287s to Leclerc. Hamilton seemed poised to return to the top when the session was stopped.

Once the action resumed, Verstappen improved to 1:46.858s, although his advantage was short-lived as Leclerc improved on that time by a quarter of a second before the three-time F1 champion managed to haul himself to within 0.030s of the Monégasque.

Approaching the midway point of the session, Leclerc then brought out the red flags for the second time, leading to an additional eight-minute loss, following which the McLarens took up the challenge on the soft tyres as first Oscar Piastri went quickest, followed by Norris.

Hamilton, however, then upped the ante with a time of 1:45.859s just before Colapinto's crash brought out the red flags again.

A further eight minutes - for a total of 21 overall - before the cars again returned to the track. For the first two sectors it appeared as if Verstappen would emerge quickest as he purpled the first two sectors, only to miss out by 0.036s to Hamilton.

Right at the death, however, Verstappen managed another hot lap, and on this occasion comfortably usurped Hamilton.

Behind Norris, the sole remaining Ferrari of Carlos Sainz was fifth quickest, 0.627s back, followed by Piastri, Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso, George Russell in his Mercedes, then Leclerc, with RB's Daniel Ricciardo completing the top 10.

On his Haas debut, deputising for the banned Kevin Magnussen, Oliver Bearman delivered a fine FP1 to finish 0.162s ahead of team-mate Nico Hulkenberg, with the duo 11th and 12th fastest.

Aston Martin's Lance Stroll, who had complained at the start of the session that "this is not a car right now", ended up 13th, 1.638s down.

For Alpine's Esteban Ocon, virtually all the session was lost bar three explorative laps due to a power unit issue, leading him to finishing bottom of the standings without a time to his name.