Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo led the way on Friday’s Free Practice 2 session with Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen just behind but the talking point for was the amount of running off at corners and the challenge that the Ultrasoft Pirelli tires are going to bring to the race.
The softest compound to have raced in Baku, the teams had to make their selection a long time ago without really knowing just how soft these compounds were. The tire selection for this race means that given the lack of durability in the Ultrasofts as well as the lower time deltas than the teams expected mean that the Supersoft may be the route to go yet the teams may not have selected enough sets for the race.
Keep you eye peeled for some creative strategy and interesting choices as Pirelli may have achieved their goal of two or more pit stops per race in Baku.
| Pos | Driver | Car | Time | Gap | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Daniel Ricciardo | Red Bull/Renault | 1m42.795s | – | 35 |
| 2 | Kimi Raikkonen | Ferrari | 1m42.864s | 0.069s | 33 |
| 3 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull/Renault | 1m42.911s | 0.116s | 27 |
| 4 | Valtteri Bottas | Mercedes | 1m43.570s | 0.775s | 25 |
| 5 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1m43.603s | 0.808s | 31 |
| 6 | Fernando Alonso | McLaren/Renault | 1m43.700s | 0.905s | 34 |
| 7 | Esteban Ocon | Force India/Mercedes | 1m43.814s | 1.019s | 30 |
| 8 | Carlos Sainz | Renault | 1m43.834s | 1.039s | 36 |
| 9 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas/Ferrari | 1m43.977s | 1.182s | 29 |
| 10 | Nico Hulkenberg | Renault | 1m44.091s | 1.296s | 33 |
| 11 | Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | 1m44.127s | 1.332s | 38 |
| 12 | Sergio Perez | Force India/Mercedes | 1m44.142s | 1.347s | 31 |
| 13 | Romain Grosjean | Haas/Ferrari | 1m44.425s | 1.630s | 27 |
| 14 | Lance Stroll | Williams/Mercedes | 1m44.459s | 1.664s | 31 |
| 15 | Pierre Gasly | Toro Rosso/Honda | 1m44.712s | 1.917s | 39 |
| 16 | Charles Leclerc | Sauber/Ferrari | 1m44.940s | 2.145s | 30 |
| 17 | Sergey Sirotkin | Williams/Mercedes | 1m45.007s | 2.212s | 33 |
| 18 | Brendon Hartley | Toro Rosso/Honda | 1m45.051s | 2.256s | 36 |
| 19 | Stoffel Vandoorne | McLaren/Renault | 1m45.288s | 2.493s | 29 |
| 20 | Marcus Ericsson | Sauber/Ferrari | 1m46.042s | 3.247s | 9 |
When two cars are using the same power unit any differences in speed on very long straights is all down to aero drag. It was incredible to watch how easily Ricciardo catches up and passes Alonso with Alonso defending with DRS. “streamable.com/gLk6g”.
Radio comms just in from Alonso, “GP2 Aero! GP2 Chassis, Aaarrgh!”
From FP1 and FP2 Ricciardo has really got a great car under him, and is driving very confidently. He hardly featured in the clips of cars locking up and sliding into the run off bays. The Sky commentary team drivers (DiResta and Davidson) were providing some fairly detailed assessment of; the braking and turn in of the cars at turn 4, the different types of ‘graining’ that occurs on front and rear tyres (due to lateral scrub at the front – understeer, and wheel spin at the rear) the impact graining has on tyres building and retaining temperature And How… Read more »
The SKY commentary team! Really got their pretty back sides worried when they seen number 7 FERRARI engine cover coming off with car on stands in the garage in FP1. Engineer talk! Engineer talk! Let’s have more engineer talk!. Here’s Ted Kravitz with more on Raikkonen’s lengthy spill in the pits “Raikkonen’s problem appears to be power unit related, (engine cover off the car) whether it is an ERS problem or ICE, we don’t know, the season is over for Raikkonen”. Not to take anything away from the RBR chassis, their Renault engines and drivers, but I am sure that… Read more »
Yes to more ‘Engineer Talk’. Its fair to say that the level of technical insight on SKY leaves a bit to be desired, only BBC 5 Live offers less, in my experience. On the MS site, there is some analysis of the pace of the top three teams during race simulation laps on each of the different tyres. The lap times are a lot closer than the outright low fuel fast laps. It seems tyre degradation on the softer tyres is a real problem for the Mercedes in particular, maybe that somehow relates to the downforce they are having to… Read more »
The Baku FP2 race simulations looks like a disaster for Mercedes, especially for their number 44 car. But one thing that should be kept in mind is, red bull number 3 is on a one race distance old engine while his team mate (up to FP2) and cars number 5-7-44-77 are on a three race distance (over 2000km) old engines. Anyhow, the soft tyre could be best for race, but no driver has opted for more than 2 sets, car number 44 tried a stint on the soft at end of season, and there was a glimmer of hope there… Read more »