Azerbaijan GP: Perez edges out Leclerc in final F1 practice

Red Bull's Sergio Perez edged out Ferrari's Charles Leclerc to put himself back on top in Saturday's final Formula One practice session for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.

Published : Jun 11, 2022 19:16 IST

The pair have traded places at the top of the practice timesheets all weekend, with Perez fastest in Friday's opening session and Leclerc taking over in practice two.
The pair have traded places at the top of the practice timesheets all weekend, with Perez fastest in Friday's opening session and Leclerc taking over in practice two.
lightbox-info

The pair have traded places at the top of the practice timesheets all weekend, with Perez fastest in Friday's opening session and Leclerc taking over in practice two.

Red Bull's Sergio Perez edged out Ferrari's Charles Leclerc to put himself back on top in Saturday's final Formula One practice session for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.

The Mexican, who headed into the weekend with his sights set on following up his Monaco victory by becoming the first repeat winner at the Baku city track, lapped the six-km, barrier-lined layout in one minute 43.170 seconds.

That was good enough to eclipse Leclerc, who is looking to bounce back from the double disappointment of losing out on victory in Spain and Monaco, by 0.070 seconds.

The pair have traded places at the top of the practice timesheets all weekend, with Perez fastest in Friday's opening session and Leclerc taking over in practice two.

ALSO READ |

World championship leader Max Verstappen, who is nine points ahead of Leclerc and 15 ahead of Perez in the overall standings, had to abort his final flying lap and settle for third nearly 0.3 seconds off the pace.

Spaniard Carlos Sainz was fourth for Ferrari ahead of McLaren team mates Lando Norris and Daniel Ricciardo.

Pierre Gasly was seventh for AlphaTauri ahead of Mercedes driver George Russell and Esteban Ocon's Alpine.

Aston Martin's four-times champion Sebastian Vettel rounded out the top 10.

Lewis Hamilton, who changed the set-up on his Mercedes during the session, was only 12th. The Briton was informed by his race engineer that his engine had been turned down.

The final practice session got underway 15 minutes late after a crash in the preceding Formula Two race damaged some barriers.

Qualifying will therefore also start with a 15-minute delay later on Saturday.

Sign in to unlock all user benefits
  • Get notified on top games and events
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign up / manage to our newsletters with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early bird access to discounts & offers to our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide to our community guidelines for posting your comment