F1 Azerbaijan GP: Verstappen tops FP1 as Leclerc, Colapinto crash

Verstappen back on top as Baku weekend kicks off with a red-flag interrupted session

Reigning world champion Max Verstappen headed an incident-packed first practice session for Formula 1's Azerbaijan Grand Prix, which was red-flagged for crashes by Charles Leclerc and Franco Colapinto.

Baku's high-speed layout offers low grip at the best of times as a one-off street circuit, but a light rain shower in the morning washed away what little grip F2 cars had attempted to lay down in their practice sessions.

Upon exiting the pits McLaren's Oscar Piastri relayed conditions were "very, very low grip' on the 6km city loop.

It was therefore no surprise that lap times were initially up to six seconds slower than last year's FP1 session, with Red Bull's Verstappen leading the way after 10 minutes courtesy of his 1.47.214s on medium tyres, demoting early efforts by Ferrari's Leclerc and Mercedes man Lewis Hamilton.

After 12 minutes, the red flag came out the first time for a small piece of metal debris at Turn 12, which caused a five-minute break in the proceedings.

Watch: Leclerc Quickest Amidst Troubles - Friday Updates

Once action got back underway, Verstappen wasted no time lowering his own benchmark to a 1m46.858s, but was immediately trumped by Leclerc's 1m46.608s, all on medium tyres.

But Leclerc's day took a dramatic turn for the worse when the Monegasque driver clattered into the wall at Turn 15 before the halfway mark, damaging his front right corner and bringing out the second red flag of the session.

On the team radio, Leclerc explained scooping up dirt caused his relatively low-speed shunt, with replays confirming the Ferrari driver dipped his front-right wheel off the racing line onto a dirtier part of the track, which led to a lock-up.

The session restarted with 26 minutes remaining, with most frontrunners moving onto the soft tyres.

A host of drivers traded turns atop the leaderboard on Pirelli's softest compound, including Red Bull's Sergio Perez and McLaren duo Piastri and Lando Norris.

Hamilton was the latest driver to head the timesheets with a 1m45.859s before the session was red-flagged a third time due to a crash by Williams rookie Franco Colapinto.

On his first-ever session in Baku, the 21-year-old Argentine lost the rear into the tight Turn 4 right-hander, with the back-end of his FW46 smashing into the outside wall, followed in by the front left.

The session resumed once more with 11 minutes on the clock to allow a window for soft-tyre runs.

Verstappen threatened to take over Hamilton's lead with two fastest sectors, but lost out on the straight towards the finish to settle for a close second. But in the dying seconds, the Dutchman launched again and took three tenths out of Hamilton's benchmark to top the session with a 1m45.546s.

Verstappen's team-mate Perez grabbed third, with the world champion's title challenger Norris fourth just under five tenths in arrears.

Carlos Sainz, who escaped an early off-track excursion without damage, was fifth, ahead of Piastri and Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso.

Mercedes' George Russell was the last driver to beat Leclerc's medium-shod time in eighth, with RB's Daniel Ricciardo rounding out the top 10.

Oliver Bearman, who deputises for the banned Kevin Magnussen this weekend at Haas, took 11th as he kicked off his second-ever grand prix weekend and the first for his 2025 F1 team.

Esteban Ocon saw his session curtailed after just three laps with suspected engine issues on his Alpine.

1 - 2
Cla	Driver	#	Chassis	Engine	Laps	Time	Interval	km/h
1	M. Verstappen Red Bull Racing	1	Red Bull	Red Bull	21	1'45.546		204.752
2	L. Hamilton Mercedes	44	Mercedes	Mercedes	19	+0.313 1'45.859	0.313	204.147
3	S. Perez Red Bull Racing	11	Red Bull	Red Bull	17	+0.376 1'45.922	0.063	204.025
4	L. Norris McLaren	4	McLaren	Mercedes	18	+0.481 1'46.027	0.105	203.823
5	C. Sainz Ferrari	55	Ferrari	Ferrari	21	+0.627 1'46.173	0.146	203.543
6	O. Piastri McLaren	81	McLaren	Mercedes	18	+0.736 1'46.282	0.109	203.334
7	F. Alonso Aston Martin Racing	14	Aston Martin	Mercedes	19	+0.906 1'46.452	0.170	203.009
8	G. Russell Mercedes	63	Mercedes	Mercedes	18	+0.970 1'46.516	0.064	202.887
9	C. Leclerc Ferrari	16	Ferrari	Ferrari	11	+1.062 1'46.608	0.092	202.712
10	D. Ricciardo RB	3	RB	Red Bull	23	+1.141 1'46.687	0.079	202.562
11	O. Bearman Haas F1 Team	50	Haas	Ferrari	23	+1.427 1'46.973	0.286	202.021
12	N. Hulkenberg Haas F1 Team	27	Haas	Ferrari	20	+1.589 1'47.135	0.162	201.715
13	L. Stroll Aston Martin Racing	18	Aston Martin	Mercedes	15	+1.638 1'47.184	0.049	201.623
14	V. Bottas Sauber	77	Sauber	Ferrari	18	+2.094 1'47.640	0.456	200.769
15	Y. Tsunoda RB	22	RB	Red Bull	21	+2.162 1'47.708	0.068	200.642
16	F. Colapinto Williams	43	Williams	Mercedes	12	+2.355 1'47.901	0.193	200.283
17	A. Albon Williams	23	Williams	Mercedes	17	+2.409 1'47.955	0.054	200.183
18	P. Gasly Alpine	10	Alpine	Renault	21	+3.166 1'48.712	0.757	198.789
19	Z. Guanyu Sauber	24	Sauber	Ferrari	19	+3.506 1'49.052	0.340	198.169
20	E. Ocon Alpine	31	Alpine	Renault	3
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