From Principality of Monaco la Formula One lands on Azerbaijani soil. TO Baku there is no shortage of innovations brought by the teams and reliability problems. The wind and porpoising in FP1 are the masters in the city track overlooking the Caspian Sea, and Red Bull and Ferrari they're already starting to fight on the chronometric results.
Red Bull at the top in FP1 but the DRS causes problems
Sergio Perez in FP1 in Baku he puts himself in front of the rest of the grid lapping in 1:45.476. His teammate is third by more than three tenths. Reigning world champion Max Verstappen fitted his RB18 with the second power unit. The Dutchman concludes a cycle of seven races with the same engine, after the mechanics have twice resurrected an engine that seemed damaged against two withdrawals in Bahrain and Melbourne.
More problems with the mobile wing of the RB18: the DRS of the Milton Keynes cars has a lighter opening system to improve weight and aerodynamics, but this causes a very visible vibration to the wing when it is wide open.
Ferrari chases with an (almost) new engine
Leclerc closes FP1 with the second time just over a tenth from Perez, while Sainz it is fourth. Leclerc also had some news: the Maranello technicians mounted the third turbo and third MGU-H on engine two. Damaged components that they forced the Monegasque upon collection in Spain. The F1-75s did well in the timesheets, but along the main straight the bouncing was impressive, a sign that the problem will probably be even more difficult than expected to stem. The red from Maranello pays off 10 km/h down the straight towards the rival car of Adrian Newey.
Mercedes: how much porpoising
This time it is Hamilton to stand in front of the partner, George Russell. The two conclude the session respectively sixth and eighth. The Silver Arrows pay a lot in terms of top speed compared to Red Bull, and close more than a second from the top.
Also the W13 of Russell and Hamilton it gave back problems to the two riders English, even more than Ferrari. The two of the star seem to have no peace from this difficult to decipher machine.
The rest of the top 10 in FP1
Figure well the AlphaTauri with tsunoda seventh e gasly ninth. The single-seater from Faenza didn't have an easy life with regards to jumping on the straight. Alonso is fifth and Or with tenth. The Alpine performs well in a straight line developing a good top speed.
Still fear for Ferrari engines
Schumacher was forced to pull over and get out of the car following a fluid leaks from the sides. It is not certain that it is a reliability problem of the Maranello PU, it could in fact be the consequence of a incorrect assembly of the vehicle following the German's accident in Munich. Also Latifs he had to leave the cockpit, but the engine this time is Mercedes.
The rest of the grill
Not very well Mclaren: Norris 11th and Ricciardo 18th. Stroll 12th and Hag 14th, Magnussen sandwiched between the two AMR22s. Bottas he finally runs in an FP1 session without problems, finishing ahead of his teammate in 15th position. Albon he is 17th on his Williams.
