Drama for the championship leader, smoking brakes, Lewis Hamilton clipping the wall and a broken track kerb ensured a really dramatic FP1 to start the Baku Formula 1 weekend in which Lando Norris was fastest.
The session was in large part ruined by the red flag which came out 14 minutes into the session and didn’t end until just over 20 minutes to go. Carlos Sainz’s Williams disturbed the Turn 16 kerb with a piece of rubber bonding coming loose, and the marshals took some time to repair it and check it over.
It meant some drivers didn't get proper representative laps in, meaning the order was likely skewed in places.
Norris was fastest before the red flag and this looked like another one of those weekends he is just immediately comfortable in. After the red flag he repeatedly lowered his lap time and was the only driver into the 1m42s, 0.310s clear of his McLaren team-mate Oscar Piastri.
Norris had an unusual incident where he had to pit during his first run for something to be removed from his car. It looked like a day-glo green cover for a small aerodynamic sensor which sticks up from the nose of the car in front of the driver before the nose descends to the front wing.
Piastri almost immediately hit trouble in the session. He was told to avoid “full load” and to “keep low-revs”. When he arrived back at the pits, his car was wheeled away and Piastri took his helmet and gloves off, with the team reporting a power unit issue.
The red flag worked in his favour though as his car was ready to get back out after excellent work by McLaren, and he lost minimal time to his competitors as they also sat for the lengthy stoppage.
A few slower laps were finally dispelled with a 1m43.014s, just over two tenths clear of Charles Leclerc.
Frequent Azerbaijan Grand Prix polesitter Leclerc - starting first in the last four races here - certainly looked like the most comfortable Ferrari as usual, as Hamilton clipped the wall at Turn 5 on turn-in, ruining his front wing.
The car was relatively unscathed from the light contact and Hamilton got back out, but was only 13th fastest.
Behind Leclerc, Mercedes’ George Russell made it three teams in the top four.
After missing media day on Thursday through illness, Russell must have wanted a straightforward practice session but it was far from it.
"I can smell a bit of burning, I think it's the brakes," he said early in the session, and then after his lap which put him second before the red flag, he said “Serious amount of bottoming on the straight," his croaky voice hinting at his illness.
However, he was in contention before the red flag and improved again after it.
Alex Albon rounded out the top five for Williams despite whacking the wall on what appeared to be his best lap.
Yuki Tsunoda beat Max Verstappen with the Red Bull duo sixth and seventh. However, that was more because Verstappen fluffed his last flier due to experimenting with some run-off.
Sainz took eighth, ahead of the two Racing Bulls led by Liam Lawson.
Results
1 Lando Norris (McLaren) 1m42.704s
2 Oscar Piastri (McLaren) +0.310s
3 Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) +0.552s
4 George Russell (Mercedes) +0.553s
5 Alex Albon (Williams) +0.859s
6 Yuki Tsunoda (Red Bull) +1.034s
7 Max Verstappen (Red Bull) +1.086s
8 Carlos Sainz (Williams) +1.155s
9 Liam Lawson (Racing Bulls) +1.199s
10 Isack Hadjar (Racing Bulls) +1.271s
11 Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes) +1.281s
12 Nico Hulkenberg (Sauber) +1.282s
13 Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari) +1.383s
14 Gabriel Bortoleto (Sauber) +1.383s
15 Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) +1.435s
16 Ollie Bearman (Haas) +1.447s
17 Lance Stroll (Aston Martin) +1.625s
18 Esteban Ocon (Haas) +1.735s
19 Franco Colapinto (Alpine) +2.595s
20 Pierre Gasly (Alpine) +2.714s
