F1 Azerbaijan GP: Lewis Hamilton tops Ferrari 1-2 as both McLarens hit the wall in FP2

Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton pipped team-mate Charles Leclerc in second free practice at Baku’s Azerbaijan Grand Prix, while McLaren title rivals Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri both struggled.

Ferrari duo Hamilton and Leclerc led the early running and, as rivals struggled on the slippery streets of Baku, the Scuderia stayed on top for the entire session. Leclerc’s early soft-tyre lap was bested by Hamilton’s 1m41.543s on mediums, perhaps foreshadowing the difficult choice teams face in qualifying between Pirelli’s softest C5 and C6 compounds. Those lap times were already one second faster than the morning’s FP1 session on a rarely used and therefore rapidly improving street circuit.

After the traditional mid-session lull in the action, some teams returned to the track for longer runs while others chased more one-lap performance before doing so. On his latest soft-tyre run, Lando Norris suffered session-ending damage after clattering the outside wall on the exit of Turn 4, ripping his left-rear track rod out of alignment.

Soon after, Leclerc leapfrogged team-mate Hamilton, going top with a 1m41.367s lap on softs, making most of the 0.176s difference on the flat-out blast towards the finish line in sector three. Piastri then also hit the outside wall in Turn 15, as did several other drivers, but the softer TecPro barrier allowed the championship leader to get away with his glancing blow without damage.

Charles Leclerc, Ferrari

Photo by: Mark Sutton / Formula 1 via Getty Images

With under a quarter of the session to go, Hamilton went top once more, this time on the softest tyre compound as he dipped 0.074s below Leclerc’s time.

The contact Norris and Piastri made seemed symptomatic of both McLaren drivers struggling to find optimal grip under braking and, in their absence, Mercedes duo George Russell and Andrea Kimi Antonelli slotted into the top four. The Silver Arrows conceded four tenths, with Russell too surviving a brush with the wall.

Ollie Bearman was a surprise fifth for Haas on the scene of his 2024 cameo for the same squad, followed by Italian Grand Prix winner Max Verstappen in the Red Bull. Liam Lawson was a promising seventh for Racing Bulls, followed by the second Haas of Esteban Ocon and the Williams of Alex Albon.

Norris only managed 10th before his contact with the wall, while Piastri could only manage 12th. The Australian championship leader will also be investigated after the session for allegedly failing to slow under yellow flags halfway through the session.

The action continues on Saturday morning with FP3 at 12:30 local Azeri time (GMT+4), followed by qualifying at 16:00 local.