Russell tops red-flagged FP2 in Baku from Antonelli and Verstappen
George Russell went quickest in FP2 ahead of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix in an interrupted session that saw a red flag brought out by Arvid Lindblad's crash and plenty of yellow flags as drivers reacquainted themselves with the Baku City Circuit.
As it Happened
After an eventful FP1 session, teams took to the Baku streets for a second practice session after the first one was topped by George Russell.
His championship-leading teammate meanwhile was stuck in the garage after a hydraulics issue in the first session of the weekend which led to a PU change from his existing pool.
Franco Colapinto was one of the first drivers out on track who had a moment at Turn 1 but managed to get back to running. Meanwhile, Max Verstappen’s routine free practice grumbles were back as scheduled, and to no one’s surprise, the Dutchman soon set the quickest lap time of the day so far at that point with a 1:45.115 on medium tyres.
Verstappen’s benchmark was soon pipped by Russell who went five tenths quicker, as Lando Norris found himself in third on the hard tyres. Verstappen responded immediately, going four hundredths quicker.
20 minutes into the session, Arvid Lindblad banged his car into the walls of the Castle section, bringing out the red flag as the sole rookie of the grid faced yet another crash during practice.
As the session resumed with 30 minutes remaining, Oliver Bearman brought out another interruption to the session as he lost power and managed to park the car up at Turn 2. We were back up and running soon, as Bearman’s Haas was swiftly cleared.
Back on track, Antonelli was out on his first lap of the session after sitting much of it out with his car still being worked on. The Italian driver’s effort took him to sixth on the soft tyres.
A momentary yellow flag was brought on by Pierre Gasly who had gone off the track at Turn 3 but was able to recover momentum and return to running.
With 25 minutes left, Charles Leclerc took the fastest lap of the session with a 1:44.473, but was quickly bested by Russell who went seven tenths quicker than the Ferrari driver. As the times continued to tumble late into the session, the top 10 quickest drivers were Russell, Verstappen, Leclerc, Lewis Hamilton, Antonelli, Norris, Oscar Piastri, Isack Hadjar, Esteban Ocon and Liam Lawson.
Meanwhile, Hamilton was noted for impeding Lawson at Turn 19.
Antonelli soon got up to speed, slotting in behind his teammate in second, five tenths adrift of Russell. As the minutes ticked down, Russell remained on top, the Mercedes driver going quickest in the second practice session as well and building up confidence ahead of the qualifying session on Friday.
The session wrapped up with Antonelli in second, then Verstappen, Leclerc, Hamilton, Norris, Gasly, Piastri, Hadjar and Ocon.
Looking Ahead
The next session around the streets of Baku is FP3 on Friday, with qualifying scheduled for later tomorrow afternoon ahead of the race on Saturday.
Russell will be eager to continue building on his momentum after topping FP1 and FP2, as Antonelli will hope to close the gap to his teammate. Can Ferrari, McLaren, or Red Bull challenge the Silver Arrows for the top spot tomorrow? Time will soon tell.
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