What we discovered from Friday follow on the Azerbaijan GP

Charles Leclerc’s FP1 crash threatened to derail Ferrari’s optimism heading into the Azerbaijan Grand Prix weekend, however his chart-topping time within the second free follow session spared his blushes and put the Prancing Horse’s weekend again on observe.

The Monegasque overcooked it into Flip 15 and couldn’t again out of hitting the wall, sapping at his working in a stop-start opening hour in Baku. So as to add additional insult to harm, he was none too pleased with the dealing with traits of his Ferrari SF-24 on his return to the observe in FP2, citing “heavy” steering and apprehensive that his automotive was “bent someplace”.

A rethink with set-up ensured he was happier on his return to the circuit later, finally paving the way in which in direction of a 1m43.484s that nudged him 0.006 seconds away from Baku specialist Sergio Perez.

Perez appeared to encapsulate a mini-revival at Purple Bull after six rounds of toil, no less than in comparison with its devastating kind within the early part of 2024. And it got here none too quickly, as McLaren appeared to battle with the low-grip Azerbaijani roads that left these on the papaya staff scratching their heads after a below-par Friday.

The story of the day

A thrice red-flagged FP1 session meant that the primary hour was tough to learn, though Purple Bull can have been nonetheless buoyed by Max Verstappen’s ascent to the highest of the order. Particles produced the primary stoppage, however the subsequent two yielded longer clean-up operations; Leclerc’s incident at Flip 15 handed the marshals a work-out within the heat early afternoon solar, and newcomer Franco Colapinto finally brought about one other break in proceedings together with his Flip 4 wall-bothering antics. Baku notoriously doesn’t discriminate between drivers of various expertise ranges.

Ferrari no less than had Carlos Sainz within the recreation within the early a part of FP2, and the Spaniard led the early burst of medium-tyre runs forward of the same old qualifying simulations on comfortable tyres. There, Sainz set the benchmark, though this was subsequently crushed by Perez by nearly half a second because the Mexican felt at dwelling on the town course.

Nonetheless, Lewis Hamilton’s lap that was over half-a-tenth shy steered that Perez’s effort was beatable, because the Briton had accomplished his run on a used set of softs. Leclerc duly proved that and located a 0.006-second benefit over Perez to finish a turnaround from his morning’s indiscretions.

Ferrari on high – however going through a Purple Bull revival?

After a dismal Monza weekend, Purple Bull spent the week in between “licking its wounds” – per chief engineer Paul Monaghan. The staff had introduced a brand new ground to Azerbaijan and, though Monaghan acknowledged that it was a refined change to the underbody, he hoped that this could assist Purple Bull chart the best course by the ultimate flyaway rounds.

Most of the staff’s points in latest rounds have stemmed from a sequence of steadiness points, the place the automotive tends to understeer within the low-speed corners and leaves the drivers feeling unsettled on the exit.

Evaluating Perez’s lap to that of Leclerc, there nonetheless seems to be an issue with the behaviour of the RB20 within the opening sector; per GPS knowledge Perez was shedding time within the corners, handing incremental beneficial properties Leclerc’s approach

Whereas Verstappen struggled with continued understeer within the 90-degree corners and later complained in regards to the low-hanging solar peeking by the town skyline, Perez moderately picked up the tempo.

Evaluating the Mexican’s lap to that of Leclerc, there nonetheless seems to be an issue with the behaviour of the RB20 within the opening sector; per GPS knowledge Perez was shedding time within the corners, handing incremental beneficial properties Leclerc’s approach. This stabilised and the lap began to come back again to Perez by the Outdated City sweepers, placing the 2 drivers successfully degree at Flip 16 – the ultimate ‘correct’ nook over a lap of the Baku circuit. And, though Perez gathered a barely higher slingshot in the beginning of the two.2-kilometre (1.37 mile) stretch on Neftchilar Avenue, Leclerc had the higher high finish and crossed the road with a wafer-thin benefit.

Regardless, it will likely be a lift to Purple Bull amid its latest lapse in kind – Verstappen famous that it was a “constructive” pair of classes, a marked change in his temper from latest rounds. If it will probably protect that qualifying tempo, then each Verstappen and Perez ought to be capable of set themselves up for a robust Sunday run – relying, after all, on long-run tempo.

Common FP2 medium lengthy runs

Be aware: Mercedes solely ran hards, Hamilton doing a median 1m48.819s throughout a five-lap hard-tyre stint

It’s benefit Ferrari however little splits it from Purple Bull and McLaren on Friday’s medium tyre runs

Photograph by: Sam Bloxham / Motorsport Photographs

The long-run instances counsel that Ferrari nonetheless retains a bonus within the early reckoning for race day, whereas Purple Bull is essentially degree with McLaren regardless of the Woking squad’s disappointment with Friday follow. Oscar Piastri appeared to battle a lot much less in comparison with Lando Norris because the Briton cited a continuing battle towards sliding on the lower-grip observe floor.

Piastri set a string of 1m48s on the high of his medium-tyre stint, though his common grew as his tempo tailed off in direction of the tip of it; Perez was in the meantime extra constant by his consultant run on the C4 tyre. Sainz’s instances must be taken with a small pinch of salt, nonetheless, as two outliers have been faraway from his stint; these have been nonetheless significantly slower than his different instances, suggesting both cool-down laps or site visitors had come into play.

It’s tough to know the place, at this stage, the place Mercedes matches in. It should seemingly try to run with the medium tyre in FP3 because it performed its work on the exhausting tyres by the second follow session on Friday. Hamilton’s instances seemed aggressive on the C3 exhausting tyre, as famous above, however the brief stint size and differing tyre compound imply that it can not realistically be in comparison with the opposite groups on the medium.

His team-mate George Russell additionally had his working stymied by a sensor fault, inflicting a knowledge anomaly that compelled the staff to curtail his afternoon. Because of this the image is muddied additional; ideas are that Mercedes must be battling Purple Bull and McLaren, however solely FP3 and qualifying will really reply that.

Then there’s the query of engine modes, and Verstappen’s comparatively glacial tempo within the remaining sector relative to Perez (a half-second gulf right here) means that the Dutchman’s engine was turned down whereas his team-mate had the wick barely extra turned up.

The highest 4 groups have a big hole over the remainder of the order, suggesting that solely ninth and tenth are left to play for amongst them. Of be aware was the consistency of Oliver Bearman’s laps in his stint, for which he earned reward from engineer Mark Slade on the pitwall, as {the teenager}’s assortment of laps narrowly put him above Hulkenberg throughout their respective medium-tyre runs.

However Haas was barely behind Alpine and Williams within the battle for the minor factors; Fernando Alonso’s stint paints a bleak image of Aston Martin’s weekend by comparability, however this doesn’t inform the entire story. Lance Stroll’s peak stint instances have been extra aggressive, however not counted for the desk because of the inconsistency of that longer run.

As has been the case for almost all of the 2024 F1 season, a brand new venue has delivered a barely shaken up pecking order

Photograph by: Sam Bloxham / Motorsport Photographs

What they stated

Perez: “It was undoubtedly a great, stable day. I believe there are some good fundamentals. We made good progress from FP1 to FP2. We simply must be sure that we’re in a position to progress from right here. And I believe we are able to undoubtedly be within the combine for tomorrow.”

Hamilton: “It was a extremely good day. I loved right now, I hit the bottom working from the get-go and made incremental steps with the set-up and for as soon as felt like we didn’t have steps that we needed to come again on, it was persistently constructing. I don’t understand how my future is in comparison with others however we didn’t get an enormous quantity of laps. I believe Purple Bull appear fairly fast as does the Ferrari however we’re there or thereabouts.”

Norris: “We’re fairly a great distance off. I am having to push approach an excessive amount of to try to get a lap day trip of it clearly. I believe the place Oscar was is form of extra the place we’re. So I believe if we nail it, we’re nearly there, however I am positive they are not even near nailing it but. So yeah, I believe we now have rather a lot to seek out, actually, evaluating to Mercedes, Ferrari and Purple Bull, they’re all very related, after which there is a good three, 4 tenths hole again to us. So, a whole lot of work for us to do.”

Norris was downbeat following his Friday displaying, however can McLaren flip it round in a single day?

Photograph by: Simon Galloway / Motorsport Photographs