Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc topped Friday Practice for 2022 Azerbaijan Grand Prix in Baku.
After finishing second-quickest in FP1 behind Red Bull’s Sergio Perez, Leclerc dominated FP2 to finish Friday Practice as the fastest driver, despite having to deal with close competition from Perez and Verstappen throughout.
Alpine’s Fernando Alonso meanwhile was best of the rest as he enjoyed a positive Friday Practice on a day, which saw plenty of off-track moments as drivers adapted to the tough challenges of Baku’s street circuit.
Now, here is a full roundup across FP1 and FP2.
FP1
Sainz was first out on track but Red Bull’s Max Verstappen set the initial benchmark time of 1m 48.574 ahead of teammate – Sergio Perez, as the Virtual Safety Car (VSC) was first briefly deployed after Mick Schumacher stopped on track in the eighth minute with a water leak.
The VSC was withdrawn two minutes later and Verstappen three minutes later lowered his benchmark time to 1m 46.932, after he was briefly displaced by Alpine’s Fernando Alonso who had gone top with 1m 48.390 for a few seconds.
Verstappen however couldn’t be beaten throughout the rest of the opening 20 minutes as Charles Leclerc got closest but 0.067 seconds slower, even despite a four-minute VSC after Nicholas Latifi’s Williams car lost power into Turn Three.
Once the second VSC period ended, Verstappen again improved as he posted 1m 46.477 to stay top as Perez went 0.068s slower but crucially ahead of Leclerc at the end of the opening half-hour which saw both Red Bull drivers set their times on medium tyres whilst Leclerc ran the hard tyres.
Perez eventually emerged fastest following the soft-tyre runs as he topped FP1 with 1m 45.476 ahead of Leclerc, Verstappen and Sainz, with only Lance Stroll, Sebastian Vettel setting their fastest times on medium tyres out of those who posted soft-tyre lap times.
Latifi and Schumacher finished 19th and 20th fastest respectively after their stoppages with both having posted unrepresentative lap times on medium tyres.
| Position | Driver | Team | Time |
| 1 | Sergio Perez | Red Bull | 1m 45.476 |
| 2 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | + 0.127 |
| 3 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | + 0.334 |
| 4 | Carlos Sainz | Ferrari | + 0.536 |
| 5 | Fernando Alonso | Alpine | + 1.095 |
| 6 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | + 1.191 |
| 7 | Yuki Tsunoda | AlphaTauri | + 1.220 |
| 8 | George Russell | Mercedes | + 1.229 |
| 9 | Pierre Gasly | AlphaTauri | + 1.354 |
| 10 | Esteban Ocon | Alpine | + 1.441 |
| 11 | Lando Norris | McLaren | + 2.215 |
| 12 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin | + 2.371 |
| 13 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas | + 2.470 |
| 14 | Sebastian Vettel | Aston Martin | + 2.494 |
| 15 | Valtteri Bottas | Alfa Romeo | + 2.602 |
| 16 | Guanyu Zhou | Alfa Romeo | + 2.746 |
| 17 | Alex Albon | Williams | + 2.943 |
| 18 | Daniel Ricciardo | McLaren | + 3.334 |
| 19 | Nicholas Latifi | Williams | + 5.445 |
| 20 | Mick Schumacher | Haas | + 12.856 |
FP2
Sainz again was first out on track and immediately set the benchmark time on medium tyres as he posted 1m 46.705 but was swiftly bettered by Yuki Tsunoda and Lewis Hamilton, before regaining the fastest lap in the ninth minute with 1m 45.118 to go top.
Leclerc one minute later went top with 1m 43.806 and remained unchallenged throughout the opening medium tyre stint, before he proceeded to top the session in the 32nd minute with 1m 43.224 on soft tyres.
Perez finished second-fastest ahead of Verstappen and Alonso with Sainz rounding out the top five, despite being the only driver to not set his overall quickest lap on the soft tyre in the Qualifying simulations period.
Several drivers throughout the session however struggled with their braking with Lando Norris the first to get caught out at Turn Three early in the session, whilst Perez, Lance Stroll and Sainz were amongst those who fell foul of Turn 15 and ran deep up the escape road before re-joining the circuit.
| Position | Driver | Team | Time |
| 1 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | 1m 43.224 |
| 2 | Sergio Perez | Red Bull | + 0.248 |
| 3 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | + 0.356 |
| 4 | Fernando Alonso | Alpine | + 0.918 |
| 5 | Carlos Sainz | Ferrari | + 1.050 |
| 6 | Pierre Gasly | AlphaTauri | + 1.091 |
| 7 | George Russell | Mercedes | + 1.324 |
| 8 | Yuki Tsunoda | AlphaTauri | + 1.343 |
| 9 | Esteban Ocon | Alpine | + 1.385 |
| 10 | Lando Norris | McLaren | + 1.547 |
| 11 | Sebastian Vettel | Aston Martin | + 1.557 |
| 12 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | + 1.650 |
| 13 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin | + 1.650 |
| 14 | Daniel Ricciardo | McLaren | + 1.835 |
| 15 | Valtteri Bottas | Alfa Romeo | + 1.891 |
| 16 | Guanyu Zhou | Alfa Romeo | + 2.040 |
| 17 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas | + 2.364 |
| 18 | Alex Albon | Williams | + 3.173 |
| 19 | Mick Schumacher | Haas | + 3.201 |
| 20 | Nicholas Latifi | Williams | + 3.994 |
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