Russell Sweeps Friday as Baku Delivers Chaos, Contact and a Red Flag
George Russell was the standout of a scrappy opening day in Baku, topping both Friday sessions on a track that took time to clean up. FP1 was repeatedly interrupted rather than raced, with a dusty surface catching several drivers out. Verstappen and Leclerc rounded out the top three behind Russell, but the headline incident was Antonelli's Mercedes coming to a stop with a hydraulic failure, bringing out a Virtual Safety Car and costing him valuable track time. Lindblad, Ocon and Hulkenberg all had their own moments that added further stoppages, while Hadjar's session ended early with a power unit problem, a frustrating way to mark his return after missing three races with a wrist injury.
FP2 was Russell's again, and by a wider margin this time as he ended the hour over half a second clear of the field. Antonelli recovered well from a delayed start, having gone out later than the rest of the field after Mercedes swapped in a fresh power unit, to finish second ahead of Verstappen. Ferrari's pair split the next two places, Leclerc just ahead of Hamilton, while Norris clipped a wall with his rear wheel on his way to sixth, getting away with only cosmetic concern.
The session's biggest talking point came when Lindblad crashed into the barriers at Turn 8, bringing out a red flag and ending his afternoon early for the second time on Friday. Haas had a difficult day for a different reason, with Bearman's car stopping on track after his engine cut out, a repeat of a failure he suffered earlier this season and one that raises the possibility of a future grid penalty if the unit cannot be salvaged.
Away from the incidents, there were some encouraging signs for teams still working through new parts brought to Baku, including McLaren's revised sidepod and Williams' lighter chassis. Tyre wear looked manageable through both sessions despite the abrasive, dust-covered surface at the start of the weekend, with the track expected to keep improving as more rubber goes down before qualifying.
With qualifying and the race both compressed into the remaining two days because of Baku's shortened, Remembrance Day-affected schedule, Friday's running carried extra weight. Russell's pace across both sessions makes Mercedes the early form team heading into Saturday, but Antonelli's lost mileage, Norris and Piastri's disrupted afternoons, and Hadjar's truncated FP1 all leave plenty for the rest of the field to sort out before it counts.