Motorsports
Azerbaijan GP: Perez returns to the top in Baku’s third Test
Sergio Perez in the third free testing period brought the total time of the two days so far at the Azerbaijan GP to 1:43.170, 70 millimeters faster than Charles Leclerc and 3 tenths faster than Max Ferstappen.
In the final free practice of the Azerbaijan GP, the 8th round of this year’s Formula 1, the four champions from Red Bull Racing and Ferrari took to the track with an exclusively soft rubber set – with a view to the qualifying tests starting at 17:15 ( Greek time).
Sergio Perez with the RB18 and Charles Leclerc with the Ferrari F1-75 shared the lead for most of the hour-long process – which was delayed at 3pm due to a race accident to begin some repairs to the Turn 1 barrier 2 headed.
In the last 15 minutes, in the final fast laps of the champions and with intense traffic from all the cars on the track, Leclerc was in charge. Always with the soft eraser for everyone, Ferstappen came at him in tenth, but the Monegasque responded with a new lap, four tenths faster than the Dutchman.
Then Perez, who continued his excellent form this year, responded with a 1:43.170, which is the best time of the two days, putting him 70mm ahead of Leclerc. Ferstappen tried again, setting the fastest time on the first part of the route, but his lap was ruined by traffic, which the Dutchman described as “incredible”.
Behind Carlos Sainte, who was four tenths off the lead, McLaren finished third today with Lando Norris fifth and Daniel Ricciardo sixth – separated by half a tenth.
Alpha Tauri remained strong with Pierre Gasley’s 7th year, in contrast, Mercedes and Alpine’s performance was down compared to yesterday. The former attempted to find solutions to the W13 tuning problems but apparently unsuccessfully as, in addition to the fact that George Russell and Lewis Hamilton suffered from severe skipping, both reported problems with the ‘Silver Arrow’ rear.
Also in the final 15 minutes, several drivers’ fast laps were marred by exit yellow flags from Valteri Botas, who locked the brakes at Turn 2 and had to back out twice to get his Alfa Romeo back on track.
We remind you that due to the delay and the third free trial period, the qualifying tests for the Azerbaijan GP will start at 17:15 instead of 17:00 as originally planned.
Source: sport 24
Sophia Jhon is a sports journalist and author. He has worked as a news editor for Sportish and is now a sport columnist for the same publication. Alberta’s professional interests lie largely in sports news, with an emphasis on English football. He has also written articles on other sporting topics.