The Dutchman
Max Verstappen
(Red Bull), who aspires to achieve a third title in a row, led this Friday the first and only free practice for the
Azerbaijan Grand Prix
, the fourth of the
Formula 1
season , on the Baku street circuit, where his Mexican teammate,
Checo Pérez
, scored the third time;
and the Spanish
Carlos Sainz
(Ferrari) and
Fernando Alonso
(Aston Martin) fourth and eighth, respectively.
In the best of his 22 laps, Verstappen -championship leader, with 69 points- covered the 6,003-meter track in the Azerbaijani capital in one minute, 42 seconds and 315 thousandths, only 37 less than the Monegasque Charles Leclerc (Ferrari). and with a 139 advantage over the other Red Bull, that of 'Checo' -second in the World Championship, fifteen points behind 'Mad Max'-, which marked the third time of the only training session for the first of the six Grand Prix with the new sprint format.
Sainz, fifth in the competition, with 20 points, set the fourth time of the session, like the previous ones, with the soft tyre.
The talented driver from Madrid, who repeated the layout of the fourth longest circuit in the championship 23 times -one more than 'Checo'- was 584 thousandths off Verstappen's time and registered fourth on the time table.
Max Verstappen, thoroughly.
Photo: Giuseppe CACACE / AFP.
Alonso, third in the World Championship, 24 points behind Verstappen, set the eighth time, but unlike the previous ones, he did so with the medium tire.
The double world champion from Asturias did 20 laps and in the best of them he invested one second and two tenths more than the new sports idol from the Netherlands.
The session was interrupted, with a red flag, for just over ten minutes,
after the engine of Frenchman Pierre Gasly's Alpha Tauri burned out
;
so the drivers had even less time to test the only free practice for the first weekend with the new sprint format: with a reduced race on Saturday and another previous qualifying, that day, to order the grid of the same.
Pierre Gasly and a gesture that says it all.
Photo: AP Photo/Sergei Grits.
The session, in which a rear tire of Japanese Yuki Tsunoda's Alpha Tauri burst, ended with 21 degrees Celsius and 44 degrees Celsius on the track, with no major incidents other than those described.
The qualification that will order the starting formation of the Sunday race -scheduled for 51 laps to complete a 306-kilometer route- will be held from five in the afternoon;
3:00 p.m. Central European time (1:00 p.m. GMT).
- Free practice time table for the Azerbaijan GP:
.1.Max Verstappen NEDRed Bull1:42,315
.2.Charles LeclercMONFerrari at 0.037
.3.Sergio Perez MEXRed Bull0.139
.4.Carlos Sainz ESPFerrari 0.584
.5.Lando Norris GBRMcLaren 0.810
.6.Nyck de VriesNEDAlpha Tauri 1,099
.7.Lance Stroll CANAston Martin1,140
.8.Fernando AlonsoESPAston Martin1,245
.9.Alexander AlbonTHAWilliams1,313
10.Zhou GuanyuCHNAlfa Romeo1,433
11. Lewis Hamilton GBRMercedes1,483
12.Oscar PiastriAUSMcLaren 1,665
13.Valtteri BottasFINAlfa Romeo1,695
14.Yuki Tsunoda JPNAlpha Tauri 1,822
15.Nico HülkenbergGERHaas2,008
16. Logan Sargeant USA Williams 2,585
17.George Russell GBRMercedes2,767
18. Esteban O with FRA Alpine 3,640
19.Pierre Gasly FRAAlpine4,006
20.Kevin MagnussenDENHaas5,183
Source: EFE
look too
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