Practice report
Formula 1 Azerbaijan GP
F1 Azerbaijan GP: George Russell leads ominous Mercedes 1-2 in FP2
George Russell leads Kimi Antonelli as Mercedes posted a comfortable 1-2 in a red-flagged second practice session at Formula 1's Azerbaijan Grand Prix
Filip Cleeren
Edited: Sep 24, 2026, 1:46 PM
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George Russell, Mercedes
Photo by: Guido De Bortoli / LAT Images via Getty Images
Mercedes driver George Russell ended Thursday's practice running at F1's Azerbaijan GP on top after comfortably leading FP2.
Russell held off Mercedes team-mate and championship leader Kimi Antonelli as the Silver Arrows enjoyed a comfortable cushion through the fast streets in Baku.
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With the race taking place on Saturday to observe a national holiday on Sunday, the on-track proceedings exceptionally got underway on Thursday. On the high-speed 6km street circuit stretching along the Caspian Sea, the red flag came out after 10 minutes for a crash by Racing Bulls rookie Arvid Lindblad, who tagged the protruding Turn 9 wall at the narrow castle section, part of the UNESCO heritage site the circuit loops around.
The session resumed at the halfway mark following some debris cleaning, but in Oliver Bearman's case the second half of FP2 was short-lived, with the Haas driver reporting a power unit failure coming out of the pits.
It took until a paddock-wide move towards soft-tyre one-lap runs for drivers to challenge Verstappen's early medium-tyre benchmark. Ferrari's Charles Leclerc first dipped below the Dutchman's time after 25 minutes with a 1m44.473s, before FP1 leader Russell convincingly took over command with a 1m43.759s, seven tenths quicker than the Ferrari.
But Mercedes had more in that tank still, looking ominously quick on the power-hungry Baku city circuit. Russell took another generous bite of his best time to set a 1m43.347s lap, with Antonelli slotting into second five tenths behind after sitting out a chunk of first practice with a mechanical issue.
Verstappen moved past Leclerc into third, yet still over eighth-tenths in arrears of Russell as Mercedes ended the day with a one-two result. Hamilton was two tenths behind Leclerc in fifth, followed by the first McLaren car in the hands of Lando Norris.
Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing
Photo by: Joe Portlock / LAT Images via Getty Images
McLaren, which is introducing a sizeable upgrade package aimed at improving low-speed performance, was still optimising its updated car as Norris followed 1.5s behind without setting a representative qualifying simulation. Pierre Gasly split the two McLarens in seventh ahead of Oscar Piastri, with Isack Hadjar and Esteban Ocon rounding out the top 10.
Alongside the on-track issues for Lindblad and Bearman, there was more trouble for Aston Martin and Honda as Fernando Alonso only managed nine laps before being consigned to the garage with a suspected oil leak in the power unit.
F1 Azerbaijan GP FP2 Results
All Stats
Cla Driver # Chassis Engine Laps Time Interval Tyres km/h 1 G. Russell Mercedes 63
Mercedes Mercedes 24
1'43.347
S 209.109 2 A. Antonelli Mercedes 12
Mercedes Mercedes 16
+0.552
1'43.899
0.552 S 207.998 3 M. Verstappen Red Bull Racing 3
Red Bull Red Bull 23
+0.827
1'44.174
0.275 S 207.449 4 C. Leclerc Ferrari 16
Ferrari Ferrari 24
+1.126
1'44.473
0.299 S 206.855 5 L. Hamilton Ferrari 44
Ferrari Ferrari 23
+1.318
1'44.665
0.192 S 206.475 6 L. Norris McLaren 1
McLaren Mercedes 22
+1.484
1'44.831
0.166 S 206.148 7 P. Gasly Alpine 10
Alpine Mercedes 23
+1.496
1'44.843
0.012 S 206.125 8 O. Piastri McLaren 81
McLaren Mercedes 22
+1.510
1'44.857
0.014 S 206.097 9 I. Hadjar Red Bull Racing 6
Red Bull Red Bull 21
+1.521
1'44.868
0.011 S 206.076 10 E. Ocon Haas F1 Team 31
Haas Ferrari 25
+1.943
1'45.290
0.422 S 205.250 11 F. Colapinto Alpine 43
Alpine Mercedes 23
+2.132
1'45.479
0.189 S 204.882 12 L. Lawson Racing Bulls 30
RB Red Bull 25
+2.334
1'45.681
0.202 S 204.490 13 S. Perez Cadillac F1 Team 11
Cadillac Ferrari 23
+2.413
1'45.760
0.079 S 204.338 14 G. Bortoleto Audi 5
Audi Audi 24
+2.447
1'45.794
0.034 S 204.272 15 N. Hulkenberg Audi 27
Audi Audi 20
+2.507
1'45.854
0.060 S 204.156 16 A. Albon Williams 23
Williams Mercedes 24
+2.776
1'46.123
0.269 S 203.639 17 C. Sainz Williams 55
Williams Mercedes 22
+2.874
1'46.221
0.098 S 203.451 18 A. Lindblad Racing Bulls 41
RB Red Bull 4
+3.044
1'46.391
0.170 M 203.126 19 V. Bottas Cadillac F1 Team 77
Cadillac Ferrari 26
+3.390
1'46.737
0.346 S 202.467 20 O. Bearman Haas F1 Team 87
Haas Ferrari 10
+3.454
1'46.801
0.064 M 202.346 21 L. Stroll Aston Martin Racing 18
Aston Martin Honda 24
+4.056
1'47.403
0.602 S 201.212 22 F. Alonso Aston Martin Racing 14
Aston Martin Honda 9
+4.542
1'47.889
0.486 S 200.305 View full results
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