Max Verstappen finished the second free practice session of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix on top of the time sheets this afternoon but ended his session by crashing out with just 30-second left in the session.
The session was one of the most bizarre sessions yet. Nearly all the drivers ran wide off the track at least once with Jolyon Palmer falling victim to the barriers at Turn 8. The Brit took too much out of the entry kerb at Turn 8, which sent the car crashing into the outside barrier. Palmer’s crash brought out the red flags for a brief period.
The locking up and low grip could be put down to the high tyre pressures mandated by Pirelli but overall, the low grip conditions made it tough for the drivers to get in a clean qualifying simulation lap.
While Verstappen did set the fastest lap, at one stage it looked as if Ferrari was on course to take that honor. But Verstappen made sure he claimed the fastest time by setting a 1:43.362. The Red Bulls were split by the Mercedes of Valtteri Bottas who’s time of 1:43.462 was just 0.100s off Versatppen’s time. Ricciardo’s 3rd fastest time of 1:43.473 was 0.111s off the pace.
It was business as usual at McLaren-Honda when Fernando Alonso’s newly fitted (and upgraded) Honda engine expired with smoke pouring out of the back of the MCL32.
ALO: “Engine, engine…”
😖#AzerbaijanGP 🇦🇿 #F1 pic.twitter.com/BaAHCrbxDV
— Formula 1 (@F1) June 23, 2017
At the end of the session with just 30-seconds left in the session Verstappen locked up into Turn 1. The rear of the car stepped out, he tried to catch the slide, but ran out of road and smacked the barrier damaging the front left and front right suspension with the rear taking most of the damage. Despite Verstappen’s crash Red Bull ended the day on top of the time sheets and are looking good going into Saturday qualifying.
PROVISIONAL CLASSIFICATION (END OF FP2): VER stays top, BOT not far behind #AzerbaijanGP 🇦🇿 #F1 pic.twitter.com/rymOAoWA6A
— Formula 1 (@F1) June 23, 2017
