F1 Azerbaijan GP: Lando Norris leads McLaren 1-2 in…

McLaren's Lando Norris topped Friday's curtailed first practice at Formula 1's Azerbaijan Grand Prix.

Norris topped team-mate Oscar Piastri and Ferrari's Charles Leclerc in a two-part session that saw a lengthy interruption for kerb issues.

On the streets of the Azeri capital, championship leader Piastri soon had to halt his run plan due to power unit issues on his McLaren MCL39.

On the other side of the garage, team-mate Norris led the early running with a 1m43.747s on Pirelli's softest tyre compound, the C6, which was quicker than Mercedes' George Russell, Ferrari man Leclerc and Red Bull's world champion Max Verstappen.

The Italian manufacturer is bringing its softest range to Baku in a bid to spice up what is otherwise a straightforward one-stop race, having introduced the extra soft C6 at other races including Monaco and Imola.

The red flag came out after 13 minutes due to a piece of kerb that had come loose on the exit of the final corner, which caused a lengthy stoppage as marshals worked to resolve the issue.

Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari (Photo by: Joe Portlock / LAT Images via Getty Images)

The session was only restarted with 21 minutes left on the clock, which inevitably triggered a flurry of activity as teams tried to gather what little data they could. The stoppage worked out well for Piastri, whose power unit issue was resolved so the Australian could rejoin the action in time for the restart.

Verstappen was the first frontrunner to substantially lower his time, moving up to second just 0.043s shy of Norris.

But the Briton's response on brand-new softs was emphatic, taking a full second off his previous best with a 1m.42.704s, while Piastri's first proper flyer netted him third right behind Verstappen's Red Bull.

Leclerc and Russell all improved to jump ahead of Verstappen and Piastri, with Alex Albon also making a top five appearance before the final salvo of runs on a rapidly improving track.

On new boots, Piastri got a lot closer to Norris, but his 1m43.014s was still three tenths away from the lead as Norris remained on top. Leclerc was third, half a second off, staying marginally ahead of Russell and Albon.

Under pressure Yuki Tsunoda made a decent start to his weekend in the second Red Bull in sixth narrowly in front of team-mate Verstappen, but that was mainly due to the Dutchman aborting his final run on new tyres after going deep in Turn 14 and having to bail out into the escape road.

Carlos Sainz was eighth in the other Williams, with Racing Bulls duo Liam Lawson and Isack Hadjar rounding out the top 10.

Other than the lengthy interruption, the session through Baku's narrow streets remained relatively incident free – although Lewis Hamilton escaped session-ending damage to his Ferrari after clattering the inside wall of the Turn 5 left-hander.

There were also dramatic lock-ups for Hadjar and Haas' Esteban Ocon.

F1 Azerbaijan GP - FP1 results

1 - 2
Cla	Driver	#	Chassis	Engine	Laps	Time	Interval	Tyres	km/h
1	L. Norris McLaren	4	McLaren	Mercedes	19	1'42.704		S	210.418
2	O. Piastri McLaren	81	McLaren	Mercedes	14	+0.310 1'43.014	0.310	S	209.785
3	C. Leclerc Ferrari	16	Ferrari	Ferrari	17	+0.552 1'43.256	0.242	S	209.293
4	G. Russell Mercedes	63	Mercedes	Mercedes	16	+0.553 1'43.257	0.001	S	209.291
5	A. Albon Williams	23	Williams	Mercedes	17	+0.859 1'43.563	0.306	S	208.672
6	Y. Tsunoda Red Bull Racing	22	Red Bull	Red Bull	16	+1.034 1'43.738	0.175	S	208.320
7	M. Verstappen Red Bull Racing	1	Red Bull	Red Bull	15	+1.086 1'43.790	0.052	S	208.216
8	C. Sainz Williams	55	Williams	Mercedes	17	+1.155 1'43.859	0.069	S	208.078
9	L. Lawson Racing Bulls	30	RB	Honda	17	+1.199 1'43.903	0.044	S	207.990
10	I. Hadjar Racing Bulls	6	RB	Honda	17	+1.271 1'43.975	0.072	S	207.846
11	A. Antonelli Mercedes	12	Mercedes	Mercedes	17	+1.281 1'43.985	0.010	S	207.826
12	N. Hulkenberg Sauber	27	Sauber	Ferrari	18	+1.282 1'43.986	0.001	S	207.824
13	L. Hamilton Ferrari	44	Ferrari	Ferrari	14	+1.383 1'44.087	0.101	S	207.622
14	G. Bortoleto Sauber	5	Sauber	Ferrari	18	+1.383 1'44.087	0.000	S	207.622
15	F. Alonso Aston Martin Racing	14	Aston Martin	Mercedes	15	+1.435 1'44.139	0.052	S	207.518
16	O. Bearman Haas F1 Team	87	Haas	Ferrari	17	+1.447 1'44.151	0.012	S	207.494
17	L. Stroll Aston Martin Racing	18	Aston Martin	Mercedes	15	+1.625 1'44.329	0.178	S	207.140
18	E. Ocon Haas F1 Team	31	Haas	Ferrari	15	+1.735 1'44.439	0.110	S	206.922
19	F. Colapinto Alpine	43	Alpine	Renault	14	+2.595 1'45.299	0.860	S	205.232
20	P. Gasly Alpine	10	Alpine	Renault	17	+2.714 1'45.418	0.119	S	205.001
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