Lewis Hamilton quickest in FP1 in Azerbaijan for the European GP

In the first practice session in Baku, Lewis Hamilton set the pace ahead of his team mate Nico Rosberg and Sebastian Vettel in session which saw the teams and the drivers getting to grips with the new Baku circuit and seeing where the limit is especially Daniel Ricciardo who crashed heavily into Turn 15.

Many fans have been wondering what the Baku GP circuit would be like over the course of a lap; considering most of this week on social media many people had mixed opinions on Turns 7-8 of the track. My perspective is that the track is reasonable and of course Turns 7-8 are a worry if a driver goes in too deep or tries to overtake which I understand safety wise
But it is also very unique and is a special characteristic of this Baku track and it does add charm (even if many don't appear to like it for safety reasons) and will test the teams and the drivers over the course of the weekend.

During FP1, we saw Haas driver Esteban Gutierrez going off the track in Turn 15 after braking too deep. It took Gutierrez a while to get out of the run off area of the track but he was able to continue running on the circuit. We also saw Sebastian Vettel and Daniil Kvyat spinning off in the session after trying to put the power down (Vettel) and taking too much speed into Turn 15 (Kvyat) but he was able to continue running in the session.

In the last twenty minutes of the session, Daniel Ricciardo explored the limits on the track at Turn 15 after hitting his Red Bull into the barrier. The damage Ricciardo sustained was to the back of the car and included the right rear tyre and suspension. This then brought out the red flag in order to recover the Red Bull car and also for Ricciardo to leave the car safely.

But it was Lewis Hamilton who was fastest with a lap time of 1.46.435 ahead of his team mate Nico Rosberg in second place who was 0.377 seconds behind him and ahead of Valtteri Bottas in third place who was 0.661 seconds behind Hamilton.

Fernando Alonso finished the session in fourth place ahead of Sebastian Vettel in fifth place, Sergio Perez in sixth place, Jenson Button in seventh place, Felipe Massa in eighth place, Carlos Sainz Jr in ninth place and Nico Hulkenberg who rounded off the top ten finishers.

Romain Grosjean ended the session in eleventh place ahead of Kimi Raikkonen in twelfth place, Daniel Ricciardo in thirteenth place, Esteban Gutierrez in fourteenth place and Marcus Ericsson in fifteenth place.

As we head into the latter stages of the grid, Max Verstappen ended the session in sixteenth place after experiencing an oil leak in the session. But he was ahead of Daniil Kvyat in seventeenth place, Jolyon Palmer in eighteenth place, Kevin Magnussen in nineteenth place, Pascal Wehrlein in twentieth place, Felipe Nasr in twenty-first place and. Rio Haryanto in twenty-second place.

The classification of FP1 for the European GP is as follows:-

1. Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes, 1.46.435
2. Nico Rosberg, Mercedes, 0.377s
3. Valtteri Bottas, Williams-Mercedes, 0.661s
4. Fernando Alonso, McLaren-Honda, 1.554s
5. Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari, 2.192s
6. Sergio Perez, Force India-Mercedes, 2.487s
7. Jenson Button, McLaren-Honda, 2.584s
8. Felipe Massa, Williams-Mercedes, 2.690s
9. Carlos Sainz Jr, Toro Rosso, 2.832s
10. Nico Hulkenberg, Force India-Mercedes, 2.866s
11. Romain Grosjean, Haas Ferrari, 3.176s
12. Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari, 3.200s
13. Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull-TAG Heuer, 3.343s
14. Esteban Gutierrez, Haas Ferrari, 3.732s
15. Marcus Ericsson, Sauber-Ferrari, 4.038s
16. Max Verstappen, Red-Bull-TAG Heuer, 4.050s
17. Daniil Kvyat, Toro Rosso, 4.116s
18. Jolyon Palmer, Renault, 4.475s
19. Kevin Magnussen, Renault, 4.504s
20. Pascal Wehrlein, MRT Racing, 4.784s
21. Felipe Nasr, Sauber-Ferrari, 5.336s
22. Rio Haryanto, MRT Racing, 5.490s

Sarah Jones- @jonesy_laaa