George Russell stays on top in F1 Azerbaijan Grand Prix FP2 as Arvid Lindblad crashes at Baku

George Russell continued where he left off in second practice at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix as he topped the Formula 1 timesheets ahead of Mercedes team-mate Andrea Kimi Antonelli. 

Russell has made a strong start to the weekend in Baku and backed up setting the pace in first practice by once again setting the benchmark for everyone else to chase in FP2. 

The 28-year-old Briton headed Mercedes team-mate and direct F1 title rival Antonelli, who ended up 0.552 seconds adrift as the championship leader played catch up following his FP1 stoppage, which cost him a combined hour of track time. 

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen was Mercedes’ nearest challenger in the second hour of practice running, but the four-time world champion was 0.827s off the pace as he took third place. 

F1 Azerbaijan Grand Prix: Full Thursday practice results in Baku

Things were even worse for Ferrari, with Charles Leclerc and seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton 1.126s and 1.318s adrift respectively as they finished fourth and fifth fastest. 

Lando Norris was 1.6s behind in sixth place in his heavily-upgraded McLaren, but the reigning world champion abandoned a promising lap that had seen him go fastest of all in the first sector and post a personal best sector two at the time. 

Alpine’s Pierre Gasly split the McLarens in seventh, ahead of Oscar Piastri in eighth, returning Red Bull driver Isack Hadjar in ninth, and Esteban Ocon, who rounded out the top-10 for Haas. 

F1 rookie Arvid Lindblad became the first driver to crash when he smacked the barriers at Turn 8 at the entry to the castle section. The hard impact caused significant damage to Lindblad’s Racing Bulls car and led to a red flag. 

Lindblad’s team-mate Liam Lawson, who was 12th-quickest, fumed at Hamilton for “dangerous” driving after catching the slow-moving Ferrari through the flat-out left and right kink that leads onto the main straight. 

Hamilton will be investigated after the session by the FIA stewards. 

Ollie Bearman’s Haas conked out with just under 30 minutes remaining, while there was also drama for Fernando Alonso, who was stuck in the garage with Aston Martin investigating a suspected oil leak on his Honda power unit. 

The Aston Martins sat at the bottom of the FP2 timesheet, with both Alonso and team-mate Lance Stroll destined to start from the very back of the grid due to taking on fresh engines.