Leclerc tops F1 Azerbaijan FP2 by a fraction over Perez

Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc recovered well from a crash in FP1 to top the second practice session for the Formula 1 Azerbaijan Grand Prix.

A 1:43.484s laptime saw Leclerc better Red Bull’s Sergio Perez by six-thousandths of a second.

It was a promising hour for Perez, looking for his third Formula 1 victory at Baku.

Opening practice on Friday was interrupted on several occasions with crashes for Leclerc and Franco Colapinto.

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Leclerc and Colapinto sought to have a routine FP2, but the former was back in the garage early on, unhappy with his Ferrari package.

Colapinto meanwhile, missed the first minutes of the session as Williams completed repairs on the Argentine’s FW46.

Geroge Russell missed vital running due to a precautionary Mercedes Power Unit change.

Alpine’s Esteban Ocon was absent in FP1 after an MGU-H issue. However, a Power Unit change from the Frenchman’s existing pool saw him get up and running in FP2.

On the other hand, at the start of the session, Ocon’s team-mate Pierre Gasly spent the first quarter of an hour stuck in the garage.

All drivers did get running completed however without major incident.

Leclerc’s second half of the session was leagues above the first half as he surged to the top of the leaderboard with 12 minutes remaining, displacing Perez with track evolution working in his favour.

The Ferrari driver’s late qualifying simulation relegated Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton to third, 0.066s off of the ultimate pace.

Carlos Sainz took fourth after the hour’s running, four and a half tenths back from his team-mate with McLaren’s Oscar Piastri rounding out the top five.

Verstappen and Norris outside the top five

Just like in 2023, Perez led the Red Bull charge with Max Verstappen, who topped FP1, ending the second practice session in sixth.

Verstappen’s title rival Lando Norris was way down the order in 17th, although the McLaren driver didn’t set a representative time.

Lance Stroll finished a respectable seventh for Aston Martin, six tenths off of Leclerc’s time and five places ahead of his team-mate Fernando Alonso.

Haas got both its cars inside the top-10 with Nico Hulkenberg eighth and Ollie Bearman, competing in his second Grand Prix, an impressive 10th.

Splitting the two Haas cars was Russell, who put in a late best effort after his power unit change.

However, Russell’s troublesome session ended on a sour note as he was told to box with time left on the clock with a persisting technical issue.

RB’s Yuki Tsunoda was 11th, ahead of Alonso with Alex Albon leading the line for Williams in 13th.

It was an impressive FP2 outing for Colapinto, recovering from his FP1 crash to finish just 0.012s shy of Albon in FP2.

Valtteri Bottas once again vaulted his Sauber off the bottom of the leaderboard, finishing 15th, ahead of Daniel Ricciardo’s RB.

Completing the order behind 17th-placed Norris was Alpine’s Gasly and Ocon, with Sauber’s Zhou Guanyu in 20th.