Mexico City- Max Verstappen finished as the leader in the practice session of the Azerbaijan GP, while Checo Pérez finished in third place.
After a 3-week break, Red Bull regained its power in Formula One by setting the best time in the only free practice session of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.
In the closing minutes of practice, Max Verstappen took advantage of the Red Bull’s speed on the main straight and the soft tires to set the fastest time, which was 1’42.315.
Sergio Pérez, who climbed to the top for a few moments with the switch to red tyres, finished third, 139 tenths of a second behind the Dutchman.
The Mexican took advantage of the 60 minutes to find the ideal classification for the RB19 ahead of the qualifying of the race on Sunday, demonstrating his ability on the Baku street circuit.
Checo moved to the front of the pack in the first part of practice wearing the medium compound, but the conditions on the street track changed and Verstappen regained the lead.
Ferrari, which arrived in Azerbaijan with low expectations, made a leap in quality in the SF-23 with Charles Leclerc in second position, just 0.37 thousandths behind Verstappen and fourth place from Carlos Sainz Jr.
Aston Martin managed to get into the top 10 with Lance Stroll in seventh place and Fernando Alonso in eighth. The surprise of the morning day was Lando Norris with McLaren, in position 5, and Nyck de Vries with AlphaTauri, in sixth place.
An engine fire in Pierre Gasly’s Alpine and a loss of power in Kevin Magnussen’s Haas triggered the red flag, further reducing the time to find the set-up for the cars.
