Max Verstappen continued his rich run of form with the quickest time in the only practice session for the 2023 Azerbaijan Grand Prix.
Verstappen was pushed all the way by Charles Leclerc and teammate Sergio Perez with Carlos Sainz fourth fastest ahead of Lando Norris in the ever-improving McLaren.
Nyck de Vries had a fine start to the weekend with the sixth fastest time ahead of Lance Stroll and Fernando Alonso. Alex Albon and Zhou Guanyu rounded off the top 10.
Yuki Tsunoda and Pierre Gasly had their running cut due to incidents during the session, with the former having to end his session early because of an overheating issue bringing out the red flag.
Kevin Magnussen too also had his session end prematurely after losing fuel pressure at Turn 1.
F1 2023 Azerbaijan GP – Practice 1 Results
| Pos | Driver | Team | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | 1:42.315 |
| 2 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | +0.037 |
| 3 | Sergio Perez | Red Bull | +0.139 |
| 4 | Carlos Sainz | Ferrari | +0.584 |
| 5 | Lando Norris | McLaren | +0.810 |
| 6 | Nyck de Vries | AlphaTauri | +1.099 |
| 7 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin | +1.140 |
| 8 | Fernando Alonso | Aston Martin | +1.245 |
| 9 | Alex Albon | Williams | +1.313 |
| 10 | Zhou Guanyu | Alfa Romeo | +1.433 |
| 11 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | +1.483 |
| 12 | Oscar Piastri | McLaren | +1.665 |
| 13 | Valtteri Bottas | Alfa Romeo | +1.695 |
| 14 | Yuki Tsunoda | AlphaTauri | +1.822 |
| 15 | Nico Hulkenberg | Haas | +2.008 |
| 16 | Logan Sargeant | Williams | +2.585 |
| 17 | George Russell | Mercedes | +2.767 |
| 18 | Esteban Ocon | Alpine | +3.640 |
| 19 | Pierre Gasly | Alpine | +4.006 |
| 20 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas | +5.183 |
