Azerbaijan GP: Charles Leclerc fastest from Red Bulls in Practice Two as Mercedes struggle

Charles Leclerc fastest from Sergio Perez in P2 after the Red Bull had topped standings in P1; Mercedes struggle as Lewis Hamilton finishes 12th watch Practice Three live on Sky Sports F1 at 12pm on Saturday, with Qualifying following from 2pm

Charles Leclerc was fastest in second practice at the Azerbaijan GP

Charles Leclerc denied Sergio Perez an Azerbaijan GP practice double as the Ferrari topped both Red Bulls in Friday’s second session, while Mercedes’ struggles continued in Baku.

In a reverse of Practice One, Leclerc led Perez by a quarter of a second, with world championship leader Verstappen a further tenth back as the drivers faced challenging conditions at the breezy street circuit.

Fernando Alonso took advantage of Carlos Sainz’s failure to complete his two final attempts at flying laps to take fourth ahead of the second Ferrari for Alpine, while Pierre Gasly was sixth for AlphaTauri.

George Russell was seventh for Mercedes, but his team-mate Lewis Hamilton finished 12th after a torrid day during which the seven-time world champion’s Silver Arrow appeared to struggle more than most with severe bouncing on the straights.

Verstappen came into the second session with concerns over his rear wing, which had appeared to flex excessively in the first hour of action, and was understood to have led to complaints from other teams.

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Sergio Perez lost control of his Red Bull at the opening turn of the Baku City Circuit during second practice.

The Dutchman had to wait more than 10 minutes to get out on track in P2 as Red Bull continued to work on his car, with the team ultimately deciding to mirror the setup on Perez’s car, which hadn’t experienced the same issue in P1.

While Red Bull worked in the garage, Leclerc had already gone to the top of the timesheets for Ferrari, although his leading time – at that stage – appeared to have been aided by a slipstream from the Williams of Nicholas Latifi in the home straight.

Verstappen eventually made it on track and showed signs of promise as he closed to within a tenth of Leclerc, but as all the cars switched to soft tyres midway through the session, the Monegasque proved his pace was genuine.

Leclerc, who is looking to end a streak of four races without a win, improved by another half-second as he set a 1:43.224, which ultimately proved out of reach for both Red Bulls.

The second Ferrari of Sainz appeared capable of challenging, but the Spaniard blew one flying lap with a lock-up before his next attempt was stopped by yellow flags after Perez went off track.

That trip off the circuit for Perez was one of several seen throughout the day, as drivers struggled to control F1’s all-new 2022 cars on the highly challenging street circuit, which mixes tight corners with high-speed sections.

More to follow…