FP2: Russell leads Antonelli and Verstappen in second Azerbaijan GP practice

George Russell comfortably set the pace during Thursday’s second practice session ahead of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, leading the way from Mercedes team mate Kimi Antonelli and Red Bull’s Max Verstappen.

Russell worked his way down to a time of 1m 43.347s with a series of runs on Pirelli’s soft compound tyre, putting him half a second up on championship leader Antonelli, and a further three tenths clear of Verstappen.

Plenty of cars were quick to head out on track when the green light switched on at the end of the pit lane at 1600 local time – the sun gradually setting over the Baku City Circuit, but the air temperature still sitting at a toasty 30 degrees Celcius.

Most drivers spent the early stages of the session running either medium or hard tyres, bringing an early benchmark of 1m 45.115s from Verstappen, who nonetheless promptly got on the radio to complain about a poor ride at the wheel of his Red Bull.

“I’m constantly counter-steering because my rear axle is coming off the ground,” stressed the four-time World Champion a few minutes later, before improving to a 1m 44.492s on medium tyres – a few hundredths faster than Mercedes’ George Russell with the same compound.

A little further back, Lando Norris slotted into third over Lewis Hamilton, the returning Isack Hadjar, Charles Leclerc and team mate Oscar Piastri, with the two McLarens running a makeshift solution to their FP1 floorboard issues in the form of plastic cable ties.

Then, just under 20 minutes into the session, a red flag was thrown due to Arvid Lindblad pushing too hard through the Turn 8/9 castle section, thumping the wall and coming to a halt with significant damage on the right-hand side of his Racing Bulls car.

“I’m really sorry,” said the British rookie over the radio, having also crashed during FP2 in Madrid last time out. “I think I literally clipped it by like a millimetre,” he added, before being collected by the Medical Car and dropped off in the paddock.

With Lindblad’s car recovered and the track cleared, the session resumed at 1629 local time – attention now turning towards Qualifying-style simulations on soft tyres, and a first look at how the one-lap pecking order might unfold this weekend.

Only moments after the session had resumed, though, there was drama for Ollie Bearman and Haas. “My engine switched off and just… broke,” sighed Bearman, who managed to park his car at the end of an escape road and make the marshals’ job easier.

As Bearman and Lindblad watched from the sidelines, the rest of the field started to deliver some soft-shod times – Russell pumping in a 1m 43.759s to lead Verstappen by some four tenths, and Leclerc, Hamilton and Kimi Antonelli the best part of a second adrift.

Another round of runs brought a 1m 43.347s from Russell, before team mate Antonelli delivered his own significant improvement to go second on a 1m 43.899s. Verstappen was shuffled down to third at this point, from Leclerc, Hamilton and Norris (who backed out of a stronger lap).

Pierre Gasly put his Alpine seventh, ahead of Piastri, Hadjar and the sole remaining Haas of Esteban Ocon, followed by team mate Franco Colapinto, Racing Bulls’ Liam Lawson – frustrated by a slow-moving Hamilton in the final sector – and Cadillac’s Sergio Perez.

Gabriel Bortoleto and Nico Hulkenberg were 14th and 15th respectively as Audi continued to learn about a raft of updates, over the similarly upgraded Williams cars of Alex Albon and Carlos Sainz, Lindblad, the other Cadillac of Valtteri Bottas, Bearman and the Aston Martins – Fernando Alonso’s running limited by a suspected oil leak.

With FP1 and FP2 completed, the teams and drivers will now regroup in the paddock and dig through the data overnight before returning to the track for the final hour of practice, which is set to begin at 1230 local time on Friday.