Max quickest in Baku FP1: "Happy this morning"

Published on 23 June 2017 by Stefan Meens

Max Verstappen started his Azerbeidjan Grand Prix weekend in the best possible way by setting the fastest time in the opening practice session. The youngster was quickest around the streets of Baku, leading his Red Bull Racing team mate Daniel Ricciardo, Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel and Sergio Perez. The Force India driver also caused the only red flag of the session after heavily crashing his car in the slowest part of the street circuit.

“I’m happy with this morning. We were straight away on the pace and the car feels good”, says Max after FP1. “We’ll have to work on the set-up a bit, but at least it’s a positive start.”

The opening practice of weekend takes place in glorious sunshine. Max is keen to make the most of FP1 and heads out as soon as the pit light jumps to green. His first installation lap is completed with ‘aeroracks’ mounted to his RB13 to gain valuable aerodynamic data.

Twenty minutes into the session, Max really starts to chase lap times. Although on the medium compound, the Dutchman positions himself in second with a 1:46.4.

With 40 minutes left on the clock, Max switches to the super soft Pirellis. The lap times tumble and, ultimately, his 1:44.410 proves to be the fastest lap of the session.

In the closing stages of FP1, Sergio Perez causes a red flag after smashing in to the barriers in turn 8, the most narrow part of the track. The Mexican walks away unharmed, but the barrier repairs take over ten minutes. Once the session is underway again, no one is able to lap the Baku street circuit quicker than Max has, cementing the Dutchman’s position at the top of the leaderboard.

Azerbeidjan Grand Prix - Baku - Friday 23 June 2017

FREE PRACTICE 1 RESULTS

01 33 Max Verstappen      Red Bull Racing TAG Heuer   1:44.410          19
02  3 Daniel Ricciardo    Red Bull Racing TAG Heuer   1:44.880 +0.470s  22
03  5 Sebastian Vettel    Ferrari                     1:44.967 +0.557s  20
04 11 Sergio Perez        Force India Mercedes        1:45.398 +0.988s  16
05 44 Lewis Hamilton      Mercedes                    1:45.497 +1.087s  16
06 77 Valtteri Bottas     Mercedes                    1:45.737 +1.327s  19
07 31 Esteban Ocon        Force India Mercedes        1:45.752 +1.342s  24
08 19 Felipe Massa        Williams Mercedes           1:45.968 +1.558s  25
09  7 Kimi Räikkönen      Ferrari                     1:46.000 +1.590s  18
10 26 Daniil Kvyat        Toro Rosso                  1:46.617 +2.207s  11
11 18 Lance Stroll        Williams Mercedes           1:46.649 +2.239s  28
12 20 Kevin Magnussen     Haas Ferrari                1:46.721 +2.311s  23
13  8 Romain Grosjean     Haas Ferrari                1:46.837 +2.427s  22
14 27 Nico Hulkenberg     Renault                     1:47.217 +2.807s  21
15  2 Stoffel Vandoorne   McLaren Honda               1:47.446 +3.036s  22
16 55 Carlos Sainz        Toro Rosso                  1:47.501 +3.091s  13
17 14 Fernando Alonso     McLaren Honda               1:47.551 +3.141s  20
18 30 Jolyon Palmer       Renault                     1:48.525 +4.115s  15
19 94 Pascal Wehrlein     Sauber Ferrari              1:49.048 +4.638s  19
20  9 Marcus Ericsson     Sauber Ferrari              1:49.937 +5.527s  21

Predict Max’ fastest lap and win a polo shirt from the new MV collection!