Azerbaijan Grand Prix – Free Practice 2: Sergio Perez dominates the session, Mercedes struggling

The first 20 minutes

For most of the session, the drivers started with the medium tires (yellow) and right away the Ferraris found themselves at the top of the standings. But quickly a red flag was waved on the track, Latifi’s Williams found itself immobilized in the middle of the track at the beginning of the third sector. The Williams’s Mercedes engine abruptly stopped after its driver’s excursion in an escape route.

Le désarroi de Latifi après la casse moteur de sa Williams à #Baku #f1 #bakugp #AzerbaijanGP pic.twitter.com/aQVSrvnQBe

— Motors Inside F1 (@MotorsInside) June 4, 2021

The only on-track actions came from Sebastian Vettel, who spun in the third sector, as well as a misunderstanding on the track between Nikita Mazepin and Carlos Sainz.

After 20 minutes of driving, Carlos Sainz held the best time on yellow tires (1:43.162), closely followed by Charles Leclerc (+0.048) and Pierre Gasly (+0.054).

At midday

After this session interruption, the drivers put on the softest tires (red) and the Ferraris were still dominating the timing charts. But as he was improving, Charles Leclerc went straight into the wall at turn 15. The Monegasque driver does not seem to have greatly damaged his car… maybe more his confidence in himself.

Recherche aileron perdu vers 16h30 localement #F1 #BakuGP #crashf1 pic.twitter.com/BI3ioanWqS

— Motors Inside F1 (@MotorsInside) June 4, 2021

The drivers tested the limits of the tracks like Charles Leclerc and Pierre Gasly were also not far from being penalized at the same turn as their French counterpart. At the same time Sergio Pérez and Max Verstappen took the lead by placing 1st and 2nd.

Nothing is going well on the Mercedes side, pointing respectively to 11th and 16th place, over a second for Lewis Hamilton and 2 seconds for Valtteri Bottas, far, very far behind the Austrian firm.

After 40 minutes of the session, amputated of several minutes with the red flag, Sergio Pérez was leading the pack (1:42.115), followed by his teammate Max Verstappen (+0.101) and Carlos Sainz (+0.128) all three on red tires.

The last 20 minutes

Already well rebuffed, the Free Practice 2 session will not have been fruitful, due to the stubborn engine of his Haas, Mick Schumacher spent a lot of time parked in his pit during this session.

There have not been many changes in the standings in the last 10 minutes, Sergio Pérez still dominated the other 19 drivers. On the Mercedes side, it’s still grimacing, with the black arrows in 11th and 16th place.

Timetable