The Red Bulls have flown out of the blocks in Baku, with Max Verstappen fastest in FP1 with a time of 1:43.184, and Sergio Perez fastest in FP2 with a time of 1:42.115.
Sergio Perez Off On The Right Foot
For Sergio Perez, Friday’s practice sessions was all about setting the tone for his weekend, and getting off on the right foot after his recent woes in qualifying that have left him chasing come race day. Today the Mexican put it all together early, coming to grips with the street circuit in Azerbaijan.
“I’m happy with today and I think we’ve definitely made some good progress. We did a very good analysis after Monaco and today felt like I am understanding the car more and how I need to drive it. I think this is probably the best Friday of the season for me, it’s the most complete in terms of data and how comfortable I feel with the car. Hopefully we can get a good, clean lap in qualifying tomorrow which is when it matters, but we’ll still work hard tonight to improve and try to find some more lap time,” said Perez.
Max Verstappen Lays Down A Marker
After taking the championship lead in Monaco, Max Verstappen has laid down a marker early in Baku, going fastest in FP1 then following it up with a P2 performance in FP2.
“Performance wise I think we had a great start to the weekend here in Baku. It was quite windy out there today which wasn’t easy for any of us, but it definitely makes things more interesting. In FP1 the car felt pretty decent, I was quite comfortable and then for FP2 we made a few changes to see if it was better but I don’t think it was, so we’ll look into that overnight and see what direction we will go for qualifying. So far I think we look pretty strong as a Team and I’m very happy with that so let’s see what we can do tomorrow,” added Verstappen.