BAKU CITY, Azerbaijan — George Russell comfortably set the pace during Thursday’s second practice session ahead of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.
The Mercedes driver led the way from teammate Kimi Antonelli and Red Bull’s Max Verstappen.
Russell worked his way down to a time of 1 minute and 43.347 seconds with a series of runs on Pirelli’s soft compound tire, putting him half a second up on championship leader Antonelli, and a further three tenths clear of Verstappen.
Plenty of cars were quick to head out on track when the green light switched on at the end of the pit lane at 1600 local time – the sun gradually setting over the Baku City Circuit, but the air temperature still sitting at a toasty 30 degrees Celcius.
Most drivers spent the early stages of the session running either medium or hard tyres, bringing an early benchmark of 1 minute and 45.115 seconds from Verstappen, who nonetheless promptly got on the radio to complain about a poor ride at the wheel of his Red Bull.
Ferrari teammates Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton completed the top five.
