F1 GP Europe, Free Practice 1: Hamilton inaugurates Baku

The first free practice session on the new Baku circuit has just ended.

As was normal, the initial stages saw the drivers trying to familiarize themselves with a treacherous layout made up of very fast straights where speeds reached 330 km/h and narrow, tortuous areas made even more slippery by the green and, moreover, dirty asphalt. dust and leaves.

Everyone started on the soft tyres, only in the last few minutes did we see someone running on the medium tyres, in particular the Force India, from the top ten with Perez sixth and Hulkenberg tenth, while the supersofts were used by the Mercedes and the Toro Rossos.

The best time was set with a time of 1'46"435 by LLewis Hamilton not free from burrs that have damaged the tires. Stable at the top of the rankings for most of the session and with a probable problem with the headrest, visibly worn on the internal sides, the world champion went to lunch a quarter of an hour early, taking advantage of the red flag waved for the error Of Daniel Ricciardo at turn 15, the first to christen the walls of the Azerbaijan track.

Second place for Nico Rosberg's other W07, ahead of Valtteri Bottas' Williams.

Good results were achieved by McLaren, perhaps helped by a front wing rather full of grooves and flaps with Fernando Alonso fourth and Jenson Button seventh.

At Ferrari, a lot of work was done on aerodynamics, first with the paints and then diversifying the front wings. Four elements for Raikkonen and five for Vettel. In terms of times, Sebastian finished in fifth position with a gap of 2"192. Kimi is definitely more in difficulty, only twelfth at 3 seconds.

Ninth was Carlos Sainz on Toro Rosso, who ruined his wing against the barriers when it was just before the checkered flag. Seventeenth and still colorless is his teammate Daniil Kvyat.

Max Verstappen did little better, pitting early due to an alleged engine failure in his Red Bull.

As regards the battle in the bottom of the group, the Manor of Haryanto closes although in terms of performance Sauber and Renault are not far apart.

PROVISIONAL CLASSIFICATION: END OF # FP1

Frustration for Red Bull, encouraging from McLaren #EuropeGP 🇦🇿 pic.twitter.com/lkgAJTSvGi

- Formula 1 (@ F1) 17 June 2016