Mercedes driver George Russell led Max Verstappen in the first free practice at F1's Azerbaijan Grand Prix as Kimi Antonelli hit trouble.
Russell's 1m45.387s lap, set with 20 minutes to go in the one-hour session, was comfortably enough to hold off the competition as his Mercedes team-mate disappeared from the session early, with Max Verstappen and Ferrari's Charles Leclerc rounding out the top three instead.
With the race exceptionally held on Saturday to accommodate a national holiday, Wednesday's first practice at the Baku city circuit got off to a leisurely start with drivers taking a cautious approach. The slippery street layout is only used once a year and therefore proved dusty at the start of the race weekend.
Max Verstappen put down a first marker with a 1m46.635s on hard tyre, followed by a 1m46.512s lap, despite reporting that the brakes on his RB22 were pulling. Team-mate Isack Hadjar had similar problems on his return to the Red Bull cockpit after being sidelined for three weekends with a wrist fracture - losing out on crucial time with an apparent power unit issue.
After 15 minutes, championship leader Antonelli Antonelli hit the top of the timesheets courtesy of a 1m46.265s lap, but the Italian then hit trouble before the halfway point. Antonelli ground to a halt in Turn 7 with a smoking Mercedes W17, causing a virtual safety car.
The 20-year-old's car was swiftly cleared by the marshals without requiring a red flag. That allowed the remaining drivers to fit the soft tyres for the second half of the sessions. After locking the fronts in Turn 1 and having to dive into the escape road, Verstappen's second attempt yielded the Dutchman top spot with a 1m34.787s lap, four tenths quicker than what George Russell could muster, the Briton himself narrowly avoiding the wall in Turn 3.
Russell's next effort was much better, taking four tenths out of the four-time world champion's time to set a 1m45.387s benchmark. Leclerc came within 0.0004s of Verstappen to take fourth away from Ferrari stablemate Lewis Hamilton as Antonelli took fifth.
Late efforts to move up the leaderboard were thwarted by Racing Bulls rookie Arvid Lindblad getting out of shape at Turn 7 and then Audi's Nico Hulkenberg suffering an issue in Turn 4, causing a second virtual safety car in the final minutes.
Nico Hulkenberg, Audi F1 Team
Photo by: Guido De Bortoli / LAT Images via Getty Images
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