Azerbaijan GP: Lewis Hamilton quickest for fast Ferrari as Lando Norris, Oscar Piastri hit Baku walls in Practice Two
Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc head the second practice timesheet after title contenders Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri both hit trouble; watch final practice on Saturday at 9.30am with Qualifying from 1pm, live on Sky Sports F1
Friday 19 September 2025 16:46, UK
Lewis Hamilton led an impressive Ferrari one-two as McLaren title challengers Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri both hit walls in a dramatic second practice session at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.
Continuing a typically incident-packed Friday on the challenging Baku street track after an eventful opening session, Ferrari took advantage at the top of the timesheet as McLaren unusually ran into trouble on the weekend they could clinch the 2025 Constructors' Championship.
Norris had set the morning pace but his afternoon session lasted just 30 minutes after he damaged his car's left-rear when he swiped the wall exiting Turn Four on his seventh lap.
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After limping back to the pits, McLaren wheeled his car back into the garage for inspections, which is where it stayed for the remainder of the hour as Norris missed out on the ever-crucial Friday long runs.
"A costly one," admitted Norris, who ended up 10th fastest.
"It was feeling good until then. I would rather feel like this and find the limits than not push at all."
Soon after his team-mate's incident, 31-point title leader Piastri tagged wall at Turn 15 - although he escaped any damage against the more-forgiving Tecpro barrier.
It meant Piastri had to abandon his soft-tyre run and so he finished down in 12th place, two places lower than Norris, although he was able to complete the usual heavier-fuel race runs in a potential advantage over his title rival for Sunday.
Piastri was summoned to the stewards after the session for a failing to slow sufficiently for yellow flags, with the Australian receiving a reprimand in an incident they acknowledged had "mitigating circumstances".
With the McLarens out of sync, Ferrari showed promise to head the timesheet on a track Leclerc has claimed the last four pole positions at for them.
But it was Hamilton who proved the quicker of the two red cars with the seven-time world champion, who has still yet to record a podium finish in 16 races at Ferrari, setting the pace with a best lap of 1:41.293 on soft tyres to finish 0.074s ahead of his team-mate.
Mercedes were next up but almost half a second adrift, with George Russell just ahead of Kimi Antonelli in third and fourth respectively. For the first time since the summer break, Antonelli enjoyed an incident-free Friday.
Oliver Bearman was a surprise fifth-fastest runner for Haas, the Briton outpacing Monza victor Max Verstappen who finished six tenths of a second slower than the Ferraris in sixth place after several trips into Baku's run-off areas during the day.
Liam Lawson was seventh for Racing Bulls ahead of Esteban Ocon in the second Haas and Williams' Alex Albon.
Does Hamilton finally have confidence in Ferrari's car?
Although his wait for a first podium at Ferrari has continued, Hamilton has cut a noticeably more upbeat figure in the race weekends since the summer break and reiterated on Thursday that he felt he had and the team had "found a couple of things" to help him get on top of their SF-25 car.
And on a technical track that Leclerc has consistently starred, Hamilton's Baku weekend has certainly begun in surefooted fashion - a puncture-triggering brush with the wall in opening practice aside - judging by his pace on both medium and soft tyres in second practice.
Sky Sports F1's Anthony Davidson said: "Lewis definitely looking more confident than we have seen all season so far.
"He's been working on the braking side of things, particularly the rear end of the car he's found tricky to manage.
"If there's ever a circuit where you need that confidence in the braking, it's here in Baku."
Fellow Sky Sports F1 pundit Jamie Chadwick added: "He's coming off a bit of momentum from the last few races.
"It sounds like they have tried something on his car, maybe something a bit leftfield because it might not be something you traditionally do and it's worked.
"I like the fact he's saying 'we found something good there' and he's happy with it, able to put good laps on the softs and mediums."
McLaren, meanwhile, believe that they face a challenge from both Ferrari and, despite his low-key Friday form, Verstappen this weekend.
"Ferrari will be quick, Red Bull will be quick," predicted Norris. "[Red Bull] are never good on Friday but they go to sleep, wake up and are quick again! So I expect a challenge from at least three other cars tomorrow."
Sky Sports F1's Azerbaijan GP schedule
Saturday September 20
9.15am: Azerbaijan GP Practice Three (session starts at 9.30am)
11.10am: F2 Sprint Race
12.15pm: Azerbaijan GP Qualifying build-up
1pm: AZERBAIJAN GP QUALIFYING
3pm: Ted's Qualifying Notebook
Sunday September 21
7.55am: F2 Feature Race
10.30am: Grand Prix Sunday: Azerbaijan GP build-up*
12pm: THE AZERBAIJAN GRAND PRIX*
2pm: Chequered Flag: Azerbaijan GP reaction
3pm: Ted's Notebook
*also live on Sky Sports Main Event
Formula 1 is in Baku for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix this weekend, live on Sky Sports F1. Stream Sky Sports with NOW - no contract, cancel anytime
