Mercedes’ George Russell led second practice for the Qatar Airways Azerbaijan Grand Prix on Thursday, 24 September, at the Baku City Circuit in 1:43.347, ahead of teammate and championship leader Kimi Antonelli (+0.552s) and Red Bull’s Max Verstappen (+0.827s) (Formula1.com). Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc was fourth (+1.126s) and Lewis Hamilton fifth (+1.318s). Russell had also topped first practice earlier in the day, making it a Thursday sweep of the timesheets (Formula1.com). Practice times are not race results.
The session started at 16:00 local time with the air temperature still around 30 degrees Celsius (Formula1.com). Verstappen set an early benchmark of 1:45.115 and then told his team over the radio that he was “constantly counter-steering because my rear axle is coming off the ground,” before improving to 1:44.492 (Formula1.com).
Just under 20 minutes in, a red flag came out when Racing Bulls rookie Arvid Lindblad hit the wall in the Turn 8–9 castle section and stopped with heavy damage to the right side of his car (Formula1.com). “I’m really sorry,” Lindblad said on the radio; it was his second FP2 crash in two Grand Prix weekends after Madrid (Formula1.com). The session resumed at 16:29 local. Moments later, Haas driver Ollie Bearman parked at the end of an escape road with an engine failure: “My engine switched off and just… broke,” he said (Formula1.com).
On the qualifying-style runs that followed, Russell went 1:43.759 and then 1:43.347, and Antonelli improved to 1:43.899 to move into second (Formula1.com). Verstappen’s best was 1:44.174, Leclerc’s 1:44.473 and Hamilton’s 1:44.665 (Sky Sports classification). Lando Norris was sixth after backing out of a stronger lap, ahead of Alpine’s Pierre Gasly, Oscar Piastri, the returning Isack Hadjar in ninth, and Esteban Ocon in the one remaining Haas (Formula1.com; Sky Sports).
Antonelli’s day was disrupted. A hydraulics problem stopped him in first practice, and he missed part of FP2 after a power unit change between sessions (Formula1.com; BBC Sport). “George’s car ran reliably throughout; he topped both sessions and completed a productive long run,” trackside engineering director Andrew Shovlin said in Mercedes’ Thursday summary, adding that the team did not expect the gaps “to be representative of the true competitive picture” (Formula1.com). Antonelli leads the drivers’ championship by 81 points after winning the Spanish Grand Prix at Madring (BBC Sport).
Verstappen stopped the Mercedes run in Friday’s final practice. He set 1:43.922 late in the session, after brushing the walls several times on his lap, finishing 0.099s ahead of Russell and 0.111s ahead of Hamilton, with Antonelli fourth (+0.351s) and Leclerc fifth (+0.622s) (Formula1.com). Lance Stroll’s session ended early after he clipped the inside wall at Turn 1 and damaged a wheel (Formula1.com).
Qualifying is Friday at 16:00 local time (08:00 ET) (Formula1.com). The 51-lap Grand Prix starts at 15:00 local on Saturday, 26 September. It is the first time the race has been run on a Saturday; it moved at the request of the Azerbaijan promoter and government stakeholders because Sunday, 27 September, is Azerbaijan’s Remembrance Day, a national day of mourning (Formula1.com; BBC Sport).
Floor: Russell 1:43.347 tops Thursday FP2 at Baku ahead of Antonelli (+0.552s) and Verstappen (+0.827s), Leclerc fourth, Hamilton fifth, Hadjar ninth; red flag for Lindblad’s Turn 8–9 crash; Bearman engine failure; Verstappen tops Friday FP3 in 1:43.922 from Russell and Hamilton; qualifying Friday 16:00 local (08:00 ET); race Saturday 26 September (Formula1.com; Sky Sports; BBC Sport).