Sergio Perez continued his strong run of form by leading the opening practice session for Formula 1’s Azerbaijan Grand Prix.
Perez set a time of 1:45.476s on Soft tyres to finish the first one-hour session 0.127s clear of Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc at the Baku City Circuit.
Max Verstappen finished third, 0.334s behind his team-mate, with the DRS flap on his rear wing vibrating excessively along the main straight.
Verstappen also had an usual spin through Turn 15 during the closing stages of the session but was fortunately able to avoid hitting the wall.
Carlos Sainz was fourth, half a second adrift of Perez, while Fernando Alonso put in a strong late lap to move into fifth place for Alpine.
Several teams suffered from severe bouncing along the lengthy full-throttle final sector, with Ferrari and Mercedes particularly affected.
Mercedes’ drivers ended up sixth and eighth respectively, with Lewis Hamilton ahead of George Russell.
They were split by AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda, while Pierre Gasly consolidated an encouraging start for the team by classifying ninth, ahead of Alpine’s Esteban Ocon.
The only two full-time drivers yet to score a point in 2022 both had truncated sessions.
Mick Schumacher suffered a loss of water pressure on his Haas VF-22 on only his third lap, with fluid pouring from the side of the car, forcing him to stop trackside.
Nicholas Latifi’s session lasted only a little longer as he encountered a sudden power loss that prompted the Canadian to park his FW44 in the Turn 5 run-off.
Friday’s second practice session is scheduled for 18:00 local time.
[motorsport_result id=’86466′]
