Welcome to Total-Motorsport.com’s 2024 Azerbaijan GP FP1 live blog as the Formula 1 circus departs Europe and heads to the unpredictable streets of Baku. Known for its notorious high-speed street circuit and its nickname, the “City of Winds,” Baku promises another dramatic race on the F1 calendar.
Friday’s practice sessions will be pivotal in a season where every fraction of a second counts. As teams battle for position in this closely contested championship, Ferrari arrives in Baku on a high, fresh off Charles Leclerc’s recent victory at Monza. The Monegasque driver has claimed pole position here for the past three years, and the circuit’s layout is expected to suit the SF-24.
McLaren will continue their chase of Red Bull, with Lando Norris looking to close the gap to Max Verstappen. However, team dynamics need careful management, with tension brewing between Norris and Oscar Piastri, which McLaren will need to resolve to maximise their potential.
2024 Azerbaijan GP FP1 LIVE – Latest Updates
Follow along for all the news and latest updates from Baku as Free Practice 1 at the 2024 Azerbaijan Grand Prix gets underway.
REPORT: Verstappen tops stop-start Azerbaijan GP FP1
A destructive and disjointed FP1 at the 2024 Azerbaijan Grand Prix featuring three red flags ended with a familar top two names on the timesheets as Max Verstappen bested Lewis Hamilton with his final run of the session.
Verstappen blasted three-tenths clear after the chequered flag while Sergio Perez also improved to third, as Lando Norris and Carlos Sainz completed the top five in a session that leaves as many questions as answers.
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Chief among those questions is what part Esteban Ocon, Charles Leclerc and Franco Colapinto can play in FP2 after the latter two hit the wall and the Frenchman suffered a power unit problem than ended his morning before the halfway stage.
Azerbaijan GP FP1 Results:
Oliver Bearman forced his way into the top 10 in that final dash but then dropped back out to finish 11th and ahead of Nico Hulkenberg.
Verstappen fastest
By a HUGE margin. He demotes Hamilton to second, running three-tenths quicker, while Perez slots into third. Is the Red Bull fightback on?
CHEQUERED FLAG
But it’s not over, both Red Bulls are on scorching laps to end the session.
Huge Russell lockup
That’s not an error, Russell just repeated exactly the same mistake as Hamilton a few moments ago.
Meanwhile Piastri gets a monster tow from Hulkenberg but can’t improve on his time. Sainz is on a flier though…
Huge Hamilton lockup
He’s channelling his inner Bottas from earlier, Hamilton flies straight on at turn one and takes the escape road.
Max Verstappen goes 0.036 slower, he’s barely featured so far this session. There’s also a scare for Albon who slows at turn four where his teammate just crashed, but it’s just yellow flags this time.
Bring on the quali sims
McLaren, Perez and Hamilton are all out on the softs alongside Haas, Williams and RB so we should get some full-throttle running… Finally.
Deja vu
And we’re underway once more – the FOURTH time in 50 minutes that the pitlane traffic light has flicked from red to green.
Leaderboard – 15 minutes to go:
It’s now three cars that need repairs before FP2 this afternoon.
- Lewis Hamilton – 1:45.859
- Norris +0.168
- Piastri +0.423
- Perez +0.727
- Leclerc +0.749
- Verstappen +0.779
- Ricciardo +0.828
- Bearman +1.114
- Hulkenberg +1.276
- Sainz +1.345
ANOTHER RED FLAG
What a session. Franco Colapinto does the same thing as Leclerc earlier at turn four but with more destructive consequences, bashing the barrier with his rear left to bring out the red flag.
Colapinto looks like he’s ok, this wall repair may take a while though.
Komatsu praises Bearman:
The Haas team principal has been speaking to Sky Sports F1:
“He’s been great as usual, talks quite a lot. Our run programme, tyre usage, run profile is everything the same [to Hulkenberg].”
McLaren to the fore
It’s a McLaren 1-2! Leclerc remains fifth but all the frontrunners on the soft tyres have beaten him, Norris leading Piastri by a quarter of a second.
Finally some calm?
Disjointed is an understatement, this session has been a jumbled mess.
However, we could be finally set for some calm as Norris and Perez head out on the soft tyres, attempting to best Leclerc’s top time.
Back underway, again
Not before some pitlane shenangians between Hulkenberg and a Williams, the German attempting to nose in front then pulling up on pit exit.
That was a rapid recovery by the stewards.
RED FLAG
It’s Leclerc in the wall! He’s out and walking away quickly, but his FP1 is over.
Leclerc carried too much speed into turn 15 and the man who produced one of the most memorable Baku moments has crashed again.
Leaderboard: 30 minutes to go
Just outside the top 10, Bearman and Colapinto can still only barely be separated – the Brit leads by less than a tenth.
- Charles Leclerc – 1:46.608
- Verstappen +0.030
- Norris +0.638
- Russell +0.872
- Hamilton +1.010
- Tsunoda +1.108
- Ricciardo +1.131
- Sainz +1.140
- Piastri +1.622
- Hulkenberg +1.711
What’s going on?
It’s like there’s something in the water today. Carlos Sainz locks up at turn seven, just before the castle section, then Leclerc gets his powerslide on at turn four and kisses the wall with his left rear.
It’s been such a messy session so far.
Ocon hydraulics problem
Esteban Ocon is staying in third gear as he limps back to the pits, so we won’t need another red flag at least:
“I have a problem! I have a problem, no power.”
Red flag over
That’s five minutes of our life we’ll never get back.
Leaderboard – 45 minutes to go
With a quarter of the session in the books, here’s how they stand:
- Verstappen – 1:47.214
- Leclerc +0.287
- Hamilton +0.404
- Piastri +1.016
- Hulkenberg +1.105
- Russell +1.142
- Sainz +1.154
- Norris +1.344
- Tsunoda +1.573
- Alonso +1.854
Red flag explained?
A steward scampered out to pick up a tiny, square-inch piece of metal from the track but that was after the red flag was called. It seems much ado about nothing if so.
RED FLAG
We can’t see why as there’s no collision shown right now, it could be a technical problem with the circuit like free practice at the 2023 Canadian GP.
More complaints:
Oscar Piastri is back reporting more McLaren problems:
“Bottoming level is quite high through high speed, it’s not straightforward.”
That’s nothing compared to Lance Stroll’s gripes though:
“This is not a car. This is not a car right now.”
Bottas in trouble
He shoots straight on at turn one and must flick around to continue, abandoning his lap.
New boys
Both Franco Colapinto and Oliver Bearman have completed a grand prix weekend now, and are back for more! It will be an interesting to see how their battle goes in similarly capable cars – right now the Brit leads the Argentine by just 0.062 seconds down in 13th and 14th.
Struggles for Norris?
He’s complaining that the steering feels asymettrical as it’s easier to turn right than left, in the timesheets Piastri trails Lewis Hamilton by six tenths – the Mercedes man again reporting a very hot seat.
Low grip Baku
Oscar Piastri is straight on the radio complaining that the track has very low grip. The timesheets aren’t worth the pixels they’re written on right now, everyone still dialling in.
GREEN LIGHT
Azerbaijan in September, and we are go go go! No rush in the pitlane right now though.
New(ey)-look Aston Martin
Shares in the team, a reported salary of £30 million, Adrian Newey didn’t come cheap. But you’d be hard-pressed to find anyone in the F1 paddock who would say he isn’t worth it…
Constructors standings
We could have a new team at the top of the championship by the end of this weekend, it’d be the first time Red Bull haven’t led since May 2022.
- Red Bull – 446
- McLaren – 438
- Ferrari – 407
- Mercededs – 292
- Aston Martin – 74
- RB – 34
- Haas – 28
- Alpine – 13
- Williams – 6
- Sauber – 10
Drivers standings
Here’s how the 2024 drivers’ championship looks with a third of the season to go and 15 minutes until the start of FP1 in Baku:
- Max Verstappen – 303
- Lando Norris – 241
- Charles Leclerc – 217
- Oscar Piastri – 197
- Carlos Sainz – 184
- Lewis Hamilton – 164
- Sergio Perez – 143
- George Russell – 128
- Fernando Alonso – 50
- Lance Stroll – 24
- Nico Hulkenberg – 22
- Yuki Tsunoda – 22
- Daniel Ricciardo – 12
- Pierre Gasly – 8
- Oliver Bearman – 6
- Kevin Magnussen – 6
- Alex Albon – 6
- Esteban Ocon – 5
- Zhou Guanyu – 0
- Logan Sargeant – 0
- Franco Colapinto – 0
- Valtteri Bottas – 0
Papaya Rules?
McLaren have apparently had a rethink about their team orders, after the infamous ‘Papaya Rules’ call at the Italian Grand Prix.
In the house
Bearman is BACK.
Hello and welcome
There’s just two grand prix in the next month, starting with this weekend’s Azerbaijan GP! Red Bull are hopeful that they can rebound after two galling defeats after the summer break, but Lando Norris could finally take a huge chunk out of Max Verstappen’s championship lead in Baku too.
Oliver Bearman is also taking part in his second-ever F1 free practice session, and that starts in just half an hour!
Pirelli tyre compounds for 2024 Azerbaijan GP
For the 2024 race, Pirelli has selected the softest tyre compounds: C3 (Hard), C4 (Medium), and C5 (Soft). The Baku City Circuit is 6.003 kilometres long and features 20 corners, including a combination of tight turns and flat-out sections.
Despite the long straight sections, overtaking in Baku is surprisingly difficult, making track position and race strategy crucial.
Changes to Baku City Circuit
Significant changes have been made to the Baku City Circuit for Round 17 of the season, with the FIA confirming a total of 16 modifications. These range from the shortening of DRS activation zones to the addition of new vehicle openings at the pit exit and resurfacing of key sections between Turns 2 and 3, 7 and 8, and 12 and 13.
Various walls around the circuit have also been realigned, including the run-off at Turn 1 and walls at Turns 3, 4, 12, 13, and 15, which bring the track edge closer to the barriers and could play a significant role in this weekend’s race.
Where to watch F1 2024 Azerbaijan GP?
For F1 fans in the UK, Sky Sports F1 is the go-to place for all the Formula 1 action with coverage of every Azerbaijan GP session live, including all three practice sessions, Qualifying and the race on Sunday at 12:00.
US F1 fans can catch all the action from Baku across ESPN, with the race live on ESPN on Sunday morning at 7:00 ET / 4:00 PT.
