Verstappen Dominates in Chaotic Baku FP1, as Rivals Crumble Against Red Bull’s Upgrade

Max Verstappen signals a strong beginning amidst the chaotic Baku FP1

Max Verstappen establishes Red Bull's speed dominance in Baku, leading the initial practice session.

Max Verstappen led the way in a tumultuous first practice session at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, marked by accidents involving Charles Leclerc and Formula 1 debutant Franco Colapinto, who both collided with the barrier.

The current world champion clocked a time of 1 minute and 45.546 seconds using soft tyres, narrowly surpassing his old competitor Lewis Hamilton by 0.313 seconds for the quickest lap, signaling a strong beginning to the weekend.

Red Bull has introduced a new floor design at the Baku circuit in an effort to improve their recent struggles on the track. Despite being the current world champions, they are only narrowly ahead of McLaren in the team standings, with a slim margin of eight points.

In the second Red Bull position, Sergio Perez clinched third place, surpassing title contender Lando Norris. Norris, driving for McLaren, trailed Verstappen by almost half a second, managing to stay ahead of Ferrari's Carlos Sainz and his McLaren colleague Oscar Piastri.

The first practice session was interrupted by three stoppages due to red flags. Initially, track debris triggered the first halt, followed by Leclerc crashing into the barriers at Turn 15 after entering the turn at too high a speed, and then Williams newcomer Colapinto collided with the wall at Turn 4.

Fernando Alonso secured the seventh spot for Aston Martin, followed by George Russell, Leclerc, and Daniel Ricciardo who completed the top 10 positions driving for Mercedes, Ferrari, and Red Bull in that order.

Oliver Bearman kicked off his inaugural complete Formula 1 weekend on a high note, stepping in for the suspended Kevin Magnussen. The young Brit secured the 11th fastest time, outpacing his Haas colleague Nico Hulkenberg by a tenth.

In spite of the crash, Colapinto managed to secure the 16th position, slightly outpacing his team member from Williams,

Esteban Ocon of Alpine was unable to record a lap time due to a power unit problem that cut short his involvement in FP1.

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