Mercedes lock out the top two in Baku second practice as Verstappen trails by eight tenths

Mercedes finished Thursday in Baku with a one-two. George Russell topped second practice with a 1:43.347, 0.552 seconds clear of team-mate and championship leader Kimi Antonelli, while Max Verstappen was third for Red Bull, 0.827 seconds off the pace.

The session was stopped after ten minutes when Arvid Lindblad crashed at the narrow castle section, and it only resumed at the halfway mark after the debris had been cleared.

Mercedes pull clear on soft tyres

Verstappen set the early benchmark on medium tyres, and it stood until the field switched to soft-tyre qualifying runs. Charles Leclerc was first to beat it with a 1:44.473, then Russell went seven tenths quicker with a 1:43.759 and improved again to 1:43.347. Antonelli, who lost much of first practice to a hydraulic failure, slotted in second.

Verstappen moved past Leclerc into third but stayed more than eight tenths behind, with Lewis Hamilton fifth and Lando Norris sixth for McLaren, which is still working through its new low-speed upgrade.

Hadjar recovers to ninth

After an engine problem cost him most of the morning, Isack Hadjar finished second practice in ninth, 1.521 seconds behind Russell and 0.694 behind Verstappen. Pierre Gasly split the McLarens in seventh, and Esteban Ocon completed the top ten.

Lindblad, Bearman and Alonso stopped early

• Racing Bulls: Arvid Lindblad hit the wall at the castle section after ten minutes, bringing out the red flag. He ended the day 18th.
• Haas: Oliver Bearman reported a power unit failure on his way out of the pits after the restart, ending his session.
• Aston Martin: Fernando Alonso managed nine laps before a suspected oil leak in his Honda power unit kept him in the garage. Both Aston Martins, already facing grid penalties for new engine parts, finished at the bottom of the timesheet.

Liam Lawson also complained about Hamilton, whose driving through the flat-out kinks he called “dangerous”, according to Crash.net.

Second practice classification

Times as published by Pit Debrief, with the order confirmed by Crash.net and Motorsport.com. The official Formula 1 classification had not yet been published at the time of writing.

Where Thursday leaves Red Bull

This morning the gap flattered Mercedes. This afternoon it did not. Russell and Antonelli were half a second apart and both clear of the rest on the soft tyre, and Verstappen’s 0.827 seconds is a real deficit. Friday’s final practice is the last chance to find it before qualifying.

Final practice starts on Friday at 12:30 local time, 10:30 CEST, with qualifying at 16:00 local, 14:00 CEST. Every session is in our Azerbaijan Grand Prix schedule, and first practice is covered in our FP1 results and report.