Charles Leclerc led a Scuderia Ferrari one-two in Free Practice 2 ahead of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.
After the dramatic session earlier at the Baku City Circuit, Free Practice 2 saw everyone bar George Russell aim to get back vital track time. The Williams Racing driver was forced to sit out the session following the incident with the manhole.
Sebastian Vettel was three tenths of a second slower than his team-mate with Lewis Hamilton third fastest.
Max Verstappen in the Red Bull Racing was fourth fastest ahead of the second Mercedes AMG-Petronas of Valtteri Bottas.
Daniil Kvyat was late out due to a power steering issue but was sixth fastest although he did end the session early due to a crash. It was a strong session for Scuderia Toro Rosso with Alexander Albon in eighth as Carlos Sainz Jr. split the two.
Pierre Gasly was ninth quickest and Lando Norris rounded out the top ten.
There were two red flags due to incidents involving Lance Stroll and Kvyat with many other drivers having trips to the run off areas.
The Mercedes duo were the first ones in the queue at the end of the pitlane as the session went green and drivers could finally get a proper taste of the Baku circuit in 2019.
Bottas was the first driver to use a run off area on his very first lap at turn two. The following lap the Finnish driver needed the run off area again, this time at the opening turn.
The Alfa Romeo Racing’s were the first ones to top the timing sheets early in the session before Kevin Magnussen went fastest as the Ferrari powered cars all went fastest.
The track evolution continued throughout the session with lots of different drivers taking top spot as the times tumbled.
The castle section caught its first victim after 12 minutes when Hamilton went straight on and use the escape road. Leclerc clipped the wall on the run to the castle section before the first red flag of the session came out after quarter of an hour.
The Racing Point F1 Team of Stroll misjudged turn two and couldn’t get to the escape road and ended up hitting the tyre wall.
Gasly was the next driver to use a run off area as he locked up but unlike Stroll, did not hit the wall and was able to turn the car around and get back going.
The second red flag came out when Kvyat lost the rear with 25 minutes left of the session and hit the wall on the exit of turn seven.
All the drivers struggled to warm up the tyres quickly and this could prove big in qualifying and after the pitstops in the race as a stop start Friday came to an end in Azerbaijan with the teams having plenty to work on overnight.
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