Hamilton three tenths ahead of Rosberg at F1's new venue before brushing wall; Ricciardo crashes Red Bull; Alonso fourth for McLaren
Monday 20 June 2016 13:28, UK
Lewis Hamilton claimed the honour of setting the pace in the first-ever practice session at Azerbaijan's new F1 circuit, while Daniel Ricciardo chalked up the first crash.
Two years after Baku was announced as the new home of the European GP, F1 cars took to the 6km street track for Practice One just five days after the last race in Canada.
Mercedes claimed early bragging rights, with Montreal victor Hamilton three tenths of a second quicker than team-mate Nico Rosberg with a best lap of 1:46.435.
As expected, the new circuit - dubbed the fastest street track in the world - proved challenging and Hamilton lost the final 20 minutes of running after flat-spotting a tyre after grazing the wall at Turn Three and taking to the run-off area.
However, Ricciardo came off worse from a brush with the barriers at Turn 15.
The Australian, who this week extended his Red Bull deal to 2018, sustained heavy damage to his Red Bull RB12's rear suspension after tagging the Tecpro barriers.
Red Bull's morning had already been compromised by an oil leak on Max Verstappen's car. The Dutchman completed just seven laps.
With Mercedes in their familiar one-two formation at the front, Williams' Valtteri Bottas was the only driver to lap within a second of the W07s as the Finn kept the momentum from his podium last Sunday.
The surprise result of the session came from McLaren, who finished with both their Honda-powered cars in the top seven. Fernando Alonso was fourth, just 1.5 seconds off the pace on the slower soft tyre, and ahead of the lead Ferrari of Sebastian Vettel.
Vettel was the first driver to spin around the new circuit, and Ferrari showed little of their Mercedes-challenging form from Canada. Kimi Raikkonen finished down in 12th.
"Ferrari just haven't looked comfortable in this session," remarked Sky F1's Paul di Resta.
Force India also enjoyed a strong start, with Sergio Perez up in sixth, ahead of the second Williams of Felipe Massa and Toro Rosso's ever-impressive Carlos Sainz, although the Spaniard did blot his copybook when he broke his front wing against the barriers.
Practice One timesheet
1. Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes, 1:46.435
2. Nico Rosberg, Mercedes, 1:46.812
3. Valtteri Bottas, Williams, 1:47.096
4. Fernando Alonso, McLaren, 1:47.989
5. Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari, 1:48.627
6. Sergio Perez, Force India, 1:48.922
7. Jenson Button, McLaren, 1:49.019
8. Felipe Massa, Williams, 1:49.125
9. Carlos Sainz, Toro Rosso, 1:49.267
10. Nico Hulkenberg, Force India, 1:49.301
11. Romain Grosjean, Haas, 1:49.611
12. Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari, 1:49.635
13. Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull, 1:49.778
14. Esteban Gutierrez, Haas, 1:50.167
15. Marcus Ericsson, Sauber, 1:50.473
16. Max Verstappen, Red Bull, 1:50.485
17. Daniil Kvyat, Toro Rosso, 1:50.551
18. Jolyon Palmer, Renault, 1:50.910
19. Kevin Magnussen, Renault, 1:50.939
20. Pascal Wehrlein, Manor, 1:51.219
21. Felipe Nasr, Sauber, 1:51.771
22. Rio Haryanto, Manor, 1:51.925
