Max Verstappen topped the timesheet in the opening session of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix weekend, while teammate Daniel Ricciardo secured second with a particularly promising sector three benchmark.
Grip was at a premium during the opening session of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix weekend, with numerous drivers finding run-off zones.
On the evidence of the opening session, two preparation laps may be required for drivers to find the optimum operating window of the Pirelli rubber.
Verstappen finished the session on top of the timesheet after managing to post consistently rapid sector two times. With the circuit evolving, the Dutchman continued to raise the pace throughout the final 30 minutes of running, with a 1m44.410s being his best effort.
Daniel Ricciardo was similarly impressive, recording the fastest final sector of the session in spite of his Renault power unit. On the basis of this session, Red Bull appear to have found a suitable balance between downforce and drag.
Sebastian Vettel ended the session third for Ferrari, with his best effort set on the soft compound tyre. Despite running a harder compound he was a promisingly slender 0.5 seconds adrift of top spot.
Lewis Hamilton closed the morning fifth while teammate Valtteri Bottas finished sixth. A spin for Bottas at Turn 12 was the headline of an otherwise quiet morning, where the team were seen to be evaluating their cooling package.
It was Sergio Perez who split the title rivals on the timesheet. At the venue where he secured his second podium of 2016, Perez seemed competitive, while Force India teammate Esteban Ocon was a similarly impressive seventh on the final timesheet.
However, Perez’s morning was curtailed in dramatic fashion with a crash at Turn 8. With both right-hand side corners of the car requiring replacement, the mechanics are set for a busy interval in order to get the car prepared for the start of FP2.
Kimi Raikkonen endured a rather anonymous session to finish ninth, but like Vettel, he did not post a time on the super-soft rubber.
Williams set the morning’s mileage benchmark with Felipe Massa recording 25 laps, while Lance Stroll enjoyed a relatively trouble free FP1 with 28 laps. They finished eighth and 11th on the timesheet.
Predictably, McLaren was slowest in the speed trap with Stoffel Vandoorne and Fernando Alonso finishing 15th and 17th respectively. The pair is likely to fill the final row of the grid, given their combined 45 place grid penalty that the team will carry into qualifying.
Toro Rosso completed the fewest laps of the morning, with the team running an alternative programme to the trend, focussing on constant speed aero runs in the first 40 minutes of running.
