Lewis Hamilton Leads Azerbaijan GP Practice As Lando Norris, Oscar Piastri Struggle

Lewis Hamilton led the times ahead of Ferrari teammate Charles Leclerc and former Mercedes teammate George Russell in Friday’s incident-filled second free practice session for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.

While McLaren’s title-contending duo, series leader Oscar Piastri and closest rival Lando Norris, faced an afternoon filled with scrapes and suspension issues, the seven-time champion showcased the optimism he’d expressed on Thursday.

Hamilton completed the session with a best lap of 1 minute 41.293 seconds, narrowly 0.074 seconds ahead of Baku specialist Leclerc, who aims for a fifth consecutive pole on the challenging street circuit.

Russell was third, nearly half a second behind, followed by teammate Kimi Antonelli, Haas’s Oliver Bearman, and

four-time champion Max Verstappen of Red Bull.

Liam Lawson secured seventh for Racing Bulls, ahead of Esteban Ocon in the second Haas, Williams’s Alex Albon, and Norris, who had a troublesome afternoon alongside teammate Piastri.

Norris, trailing Piastri by 31 points in the championship, started the day well, recording the best time in the morning session as the pair achieved an impressive 1-2.

However, things went south when the Briton crashed in the second session, hitting the wall at Turn Four. He damaged his car’s suspension and left rear wheel, limping back to the pits and missing most of the action.

“Yeh, it was a costly one, especially here,” said Norris. “It was feeling good until then, but I’d rather have this and push and find the limits, than not find the limits at all. But, yeah, it’s annoying. I’d have liked to get some high-fuel laps in, especially on these tyres – the softer compound compared to last year – but it is what it is and I’ll have to make up for it tomorrow.”

Piastri then brushed the wall at Turn 15, returning to the pits for a check-up. He was cleared to continue but raised further concerns in the McLaren garage when he locked up at Turn Two with 20 minutes remaining, indicating he was pushing hard in his long run laps and highlighting the punishing nature of the Baku circuit.

Ultimately, Piastri managed only the twelfth fastest time, two places below Norris. McLaren will need significant improvement over the weekend to secure a second consecutive constructors’ championship with seven races remaining.

“A bit tricky, yeah,” said the 24-year-old Piastri, hoping to become Australia’s third champion and first since Alan Jones in 1980. “Just a bit up and down. I think the pace is there, it’s just not the easiest to get the most out of it at the moment so that’s probably just the main thing. I think there’s still a lot of positives from today — just a few tricky moments.”

Norris added that his lost track time might leave him behind on the extra soft tyres. “The track is very different to last year,” he said. “It’s quite a lot quicker. So, I’m behind on the learnings now, but it was a scrappy session from both my side and Oscar’s.”

For Hamilton, who hit the wall at Turn Five during the morning session, damaging his front wing and getting a puncture, it was a confirmation of his progress since the summer break. He was fastest on both tyre compounds and seemed to have regained his form on a circuit where Leclerc had claimed the last four pole positions.

Remarkably, it emerged that if Hamilton secures a record-increasing 106th win – and first since last year’s Belgian Grand Prix – on Sunday, he would also become the first F1 driver to score 5,000 points.