The free practice sessions were shortened at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix on Friday. The first practice session ended early when a loose drain cover damaged George Russell‘s car when he ran over it. The second practice session was also stop and go with two red flags as the drivers frequently took to the escape roads on the dusty track with low grip.
Carlos Sainz Jr. did not set a timed lap in the first practice session. In the second session, the McLaren F1 Team driver finished in seventh position with a best lap of 1:44.183s over 27 laps.
However, the Spaniard was not comfortable with the car on a day when the drivers lost a lot of practice time.
“It was a bit of a hectic session – as we all expected after missing FP1. I think everyone wanted to be out there for as much time as possible, including us,” said Sainz.
“We tried to do as many laps as we could even though there were quite a lot of yellow flags, as always in Baku, and it was difficult to warm up the tyres.
“A challenging session but we didn’t come out of it too disappointed. Still a lot of work to do tomorrow, I think. I’m far away from being comfortable here with the car, so we need to see what we can do.”
The all-important third free practice session on Saturday morning will be used by the teams to find the right setup for the race on this challenging track.
