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.
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. “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 brush with the barrier, 31-point title leader Piastri tagged the tyre barrier at Turn 15.
He was able to continue in the session, helped by the fact the barrier he hit was a more forgiving Tecpro-covered one, but still finished down in 12th place after not completing a representative soft-tyre run before turning attention to the heavier-fuel race runs.
Piastri has also been summoned to the stewards after the session for an alleged yellow-flag infringement.
With the McLarens out of sync and out of the picture, Ferrari showed promise to head the timesheet on a track Leclerc has claimed the last four pole positions at for them.
Lewis Hamilton was fastest on soft and medium tyres in second practice
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.
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.
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.”
More to follow…
Sky Sports F1’s Azerbaijan GP schedule
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Look back at some of the most dramatic moments to have taken place around the Baku City Circuit
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