Hamilton dominates Friday practice at Baku

F1 Grand Prix, GP Europe, Baku Street Circuit

Lewis Hamilton was unchallenged throughout the second free practice session around the new and spectacular Baku street circuit. Nico Rosberg came closest, but stranded at more than 6 tenths when his session came to an early end due to technical issues.

Hamilton immediately started atop the timesheet on the soft tyres as his team mate Rosberg went out on the mediums. When the super softs were brought out later in the session, Rosberg was easily faster, but Hamilton soon reacted, even though his first attempt on the super softs was scuppered by a slide over the kerbs at turn 16.

As all drivers subsequently switched to focus on longer runs, the top times were set in the windy 90 minutes session.

At Force India, nothing but smiles, as the team had a competitive day, seeing Sergio Perez set the third fastest time, and Hulkenberg fifth, sandwiching Valtteri Bottas in the Williams. Behind them was Carlos Sainz in the Toro Rosso, beating the fastest Red Bull Racing driver Max Verstappen in 7th position.

Sebastian Vettel's 8th time underlined a difficult session for Ferrari, with his time only marginally faster than Jenson Button in the first McLaren Honda. Daniel Ricciardo completed the top 10 in his hastily repaired Red Bull.