Charles Leclerc crashes, then soars in chaotic F1 practice; ‘work to do’ for McLaren as Piastri tops Norris

He returned to clock a best lap in one minute and 43.484 seconds to outpace Perez, a two-time winner in Baku, by 0.006 seconds with seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton third for Mercedes, 0.066 off the pace.

Carlos Sainz was fourth in the second Ferrari ahead of McLaren’s Oscar Piastri and three-time champion and series leader Max Verstappen, who was quickest in opening practice, in the second Red Bull.

His title rival Lando Norris struggled for a clear lap and was only 17th in the second McLaren, his best lap undone when he came upon Pierre Gasly’s Alpine and had to abort.

“I’m sorry,” said Gasly. “I had a problem with the battery.”

Lance Stroll was seventh for Aston Martin ahead of Haas’s Nico Hulkenberg and George Russell in the second Mercedes, who had an inter-session engine change.

Behind them in tenth came young Briton Ollie Bearman in the second Haas. The 19-year-old, who finished seventh on his F1 debut for Ferrari in Saudi Arabia as a replacement for Sainz, is racing in Baku in place of the suspended Kevin Magnussen whose seat he will take full-time next season.

Australian Daniel Ricciardo had a mixed day in what looms as a crucial race weekend for his future, clocking 10th fastest in the first practice but only 16th best in second free practice as teammate Yuki Tsunoda finished 11th.

After an overcast opening session, second practice began in warm conditions which continued to cause problems for the drivers.

Leclerc reported steering problems, following an escape road excursion, and Sainz skimmed the barriers while Verstappen slid to a halt at Turn Five to avoid hitting a wall, later complaining about visibility problems with the setting sun.

Russell was detained at Mercedes as the team changed his engine. When he rejoined the session he was soon recalled to the pits due to an unidentified issue.

After six races without a win, Verstappen found a note of optimism when he suggested Red Bull had improved his car to find a more competitive performance in Baku.

The three-time champion and series leader, who is 62 points clear of nearest challenger Norris with eight races and three sprint races remaining, topped opening practice and was then sixth in the second session.

“Overall, I think it’s been a good day for us,” said Verstappen. “We learned quite a bit. Now, it’s about tidying things up. So far, I feel we have been more competitive this weekend so that’s a positive.” The Dutchman has described his car as a ‘monster’ to drive in recent weeks, but after spending much of the last week working with Perez at the Red Bull team base in Milton Keynes, he was pleased with progress made.

“The track is very slippery,” he added. “There’s a lot of 90-degree corners so if you have a tiny lock-up sometimes you just hold the brake to avoid hitting the wall.

“For sure, FP2 was more difficult for me, but we just need to get the balance a bit more and then I am confident we can be competitive.” The team used a revised floor after abandoning an upgrade that was blamed for their recent downturn in form.

“I think we are heading in the right direction,” said Perez. “It’s still a long way to go, I think, but it’s promising.”

MCLAREN ‘A LONG WAY OFF’

Championship-chasing Norris conceded he and McLaren were well off the pace after he struggled to 17th place with team-mate Oscar Piastri fifth in second free practice at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.

Both drivers were left well adrift of Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc who outpaced Red Bull’s Sergio Perez to set the fastest time, prompting title-challenger Norris to admit he and his team faced much overnight homework to find a solution.

“We’re quite a long way off,” he said, drawing only slight consolation from seeing Max Verstappen, Red Bull’s three-time champion and series leader, wind up sixth behind Piastri.

“I’m having to push way too much to try and get a lap time. Where Oscar is, that is kind of more where I think we are. So, I think if we nail it, we’re just about there, but I’m sure they’re not even close nailing it yet.

“Honestly, I think we have quite a lot to find.”

Norris, who is 62 points behind Verstappen in the drivers’ title race with eight races remaining, plus three sprint races, said he did not blame an incident with Alpine’s Pierre Gasly, on a hot lap, for his poor showing.

“Probably not his fault,” said Norris. “It’s just that here, you don’t deploy the power until very late so he’s clearly misjudged it. It didn’t matter. I’d done my lap already.”

McLaren said on Thursday that they intended to introduce team orders to support Norris’s title bid during the remaining races, but he made clear he did not want to rely on anyone else in his bid to beat Verstappen.

Assessing the team’s pace, he said: “Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull, they are all very similar. And there’s a good three or four-tenths gap back to us. So, we have a lot of work to do.

“Ferrari are very quick here. And Mercedes will be quick with these track conditions. It’s very ‘slidey’ out there. We perform well on the higher grip circuits. We’re finding it difficult, but we’ll work hard tonight.”

Piastri said he had a “decent day” but added that it was “hard to know at the moment” where McLaren were as the track was “evolving” so much.

Along with many other drivers, he noted that the circuit conditions were dirty and slippery, particularly early in the day.

“Ferrari look strong and Red Bull are quick,” he said. “But our long runs look competitive.”