Charles Leclerc set the practice pace in a disrupted Friday at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, besting teammate Sebastian Vettel in a positive day for Ferrari. The Monegasque, who scored his first F1 points in Baku this time last year, topped the session with a time of 1m42.872s, 0.324s quicker than Vettel and almost 0.7 seconds quicker than Lewis Hamilton in the leading Mercedes. Max Verstappen was fourth fastest for Red Bull Racing, 0.9 seconds off Leclerc’s pace and splitting Hamilton ahead from Mercedes teammate Valtteri Bottas behind. Leclerc’s best time was set on six-lap-old soft tires, speaking both to the relative hardness of the Pirelli compounds for the circuit and to the lack of rubber laid into the track after first practice was canceled due to a loose drain cover destroying George Russell’s Williams. The lack of morning practice left the track dusty green in the afternoon, and the early part of FP2 was characterized by numerous lock-ups and excursions through Baku’s few run-off areas as drivers sought the limit of the circuit’s grip. Leclerc, pushing the boundaries early, was the first driver to make contact with the walls, bumping the barrier at the exit of Turn 7 around 15 minutes into the session and escaping apparently unscathed, but Lance Stroll, not to be outdone, brought out red flags with heavy contact at turn two just moments later. RED FLAG 🔴 Session suspended as @lance_stroll is the latest driver to come to grief at Turn 2 💥#AzerbaijanGP 🇦🇿 #F1 pic.twitter.com/lvwVT7hgB3 — Formula 1 (@F1) April 26, 2019 The Canadian felt his Racing Point car snap on entry and attempted to abort into the run-off area, but his decision came too late, and he wrote off the front-left corner of his car against the barrier. The session resumed after a 10 minute-delay, allowing teams to continue their busy run plans in lieu of their lost FP1 running, but Stroll wasn’t the final casualty of the day, with that honor going to Toro Rosso’s Daniil Kvyat when he lost the rear of his STR14 mid-Turn 7 and crunched the left side of the car against the outside wall. The Russian, who turned 24 on Friday, triggered a red flag with less than half an hour remaining in the session but nonetheless ended the day sixth quickest. Not the birthday bash Dany Kvyat was hoping for ☹#AzerbaijanGP 🇦🇿 #F1 pic.twitter.com/6c5Qi15qQl — Formula 1 (@F1) April 26, 2019 Seventh-fastest Carlos Sainz of McLaren split Kvyat from Toro Rosso teammate Alex Albon, while Pierre Gasly in the sister Red Bull Racing car finished ninth ahead of the second McLaren of Lando Norris in 10th. The session ended with a bizarre incident between Haas’s Kevin Magnussen and Hamilton, who ran side by side through Turns 13 and 14 and came close to a needless collision. The incident is likely to come under steward scrutiny later in the day. The parts of the session not suspended by red flags were extremely busy on track, with the teams and drivers keen to make up for the time lost to the truncated FP1. Qualifying simulations were pressed back to back with long-run testing, and both Ferrari and Mercedes appeared to experiment with slipstreaming down the front part of the circuit — with corners 16 to 20 taken flat out on the run down to the first turn, the drafting strategy could pay substantial dividends come qualifying on Saturday. But despite the willingness to maximize track time, team access to tires remained as constrained as it would have done had they run in morning practice, making rubber allocation a limiting factor, particularly given the propensity for lock-ups at Baku’s multiple heavy braking zones. Renault’s Daniel Ricciardo was one driver to succumb to a lack of tires after a couple of big lock-ups exhausted his allocation of three soft tires. The Australian ended the day 15th on the time sheet ahead of teammate Nico Hulkenberg in 17th on a difficult day for the French marque. Only Williams was slower, with Robert Kubica 19th and George Russell unable to run due to a changed chassis, with Lance Stroll 18th for Racing Point after his early crash.<doc-sep>The Renault driver ended FP2 with more than half an hour to go because he had flat-spotted two sets of tyres in the first hour. FP1 was red-flagged after just over 10 minutes because Williams driver George Russell struck a loose drain cover, and the session was swiftly abandoned because of necessary safety checks. The unusual setbacks meant Ricciardo completed 16 laps across the two sessions, and he admitted: "It [the FP1 abandonment] was strange for sure and then FP2 was probably even more strange. "I missed the last half hour or more. Normally around here it's because you've crashed. My reason was flat-spotting both sets. Unfortunately we didn't have any tyres to do a long run. I don't think I've ever been in that position before. "Obviously it was not cool, it's frustrating, but at least it highlighted some areas we'll work on tonight. I wouldn't say I'm concerned, I just know that hour [of final practice on Saturday] we've really got to get into it and be super-efficient." A day of curious problems also included Ricciardo's front brakes catching fire while he performed a U-turn after running down an escape road during FP2. He was not aware that had happened, admitting: "Were they? I know my engineer said my brakes were hot! I guess now I know what he meant. I thought I went back enough [to complete the U-turn]. I was a bit slow. I didn't calculate the turning circle too well!" Renault's rear wing too small Both Renaults were uncompetitive in FP2, which Ricciardo ended in 15th, 2.6s off the pace, while teammate Nico Hulkenberg was 17th. Most drivers reported difficulties with building enough tyre temperature to have strong performance in the tight middle sector. However, Ricciardo believes the team's aerodynamic strategy was too aggressive – favouring the high-speed first and third sectors – and said its low-drag set-up needs to be changed to provide more downforce. "We had a look at the competitors and our wing certainly looks smaller," he said. "I guess I'm convinced now we'll put a bit more wing on and go from there. "I know Nico struggled with the long run. With more wing we'll get more temperature and load through the car, so hopefully that helps us." Hulkenberg suspects that Pirelli's thinner-gauge tyres, present at every race this year to counter blistering, have played a part in teams having less grip in the corners than expected. "I think that [increasing aero]'s one way of doing it and there's also the rim heating and the cooling options that we run," said Hulkenberg. "Maybe we overshot today. The tarmac here is very smooth, it's quite special tarmac here compared to all the other tracks. This year we have thinner gauge tyres which probably makes it tougher to create temperature." Nico Hulkenberg, Renault R.S. 19 Photo by: Jerry Andre / Sutton Images<doc-sep>1:17 Sky F1's Anthony Davidson examines the contact between Lewis Hamilton and Kevin Magnussen during Practice Two ahead of the Azerbaijan GP Sky F1's Anthony Davidson examines the contact between Lewis Hamilton and Kevin Magnussen during Practice Two ahead of the Azerbaijan GP Lewis Hamilton and Kevin Magnussen were involved in a late clash at the end of Azerbaijan GP practice - but what exactly happened? Sky F1's Anthony Davidson is at the SkyPad to assess the moment the Mercedes and Haas cars went side-by-side on track before making mild contact on their in-laps, with Hamilton's wing bearing the brunt. Davidson's fellow pundits were unsure why Magnussen did not let the oncoming Hamilton past. "They were on laps. They were going slowly, just let him past," said Karun Chandhok. "I don't get why Kevin seems to get himself involved in trouble a lot in a free practice session when it really doesn't matter." Paul Di Resta added: "I think he's taken it a little too far in practice." While relatively minor in comparison, the Hamilton-Magnussen clash was certainly not the only collision around the Baku City Circuit on a very eventful Friday... 1:58 Daniil Kvyat smashes his Toro Rosso into the Turn 7 barriers during Practice Two of the Azerbaijan GP Daniil Kvyat smashes his Toro Rosso into the Turn 7 barriers during Practice Two of the Azerbaijan GP 1:36 Racing Point's Lance Stroll crashes out at Turn Two during Practice Two ahead of the Azerbaijan GP Racing Point's Lance Stroll crashes out at Turn Two during Practice Two ahead of the Azerbaijan GP 1:32 Watch as the recovery truck that was bringing George Russell's Williams back to the pits collided with a bridge that travels over the circuit Watch as the recovery truck that was bringing George Russell's Williams back to the pits collided with a bridge that travels over the circuit The action resumes on Saturday morning in Baku, with Practice Three taking place at 11am ahead of Qualifying at 2pm. Watch the Azerbaijan GP live on Sky Sports F1. Sky Sports is the home of live and exclusive F1. Find out more here to watch the 2019 season live<doc-sep>
BAKU, Azerbaijan -- The first practice session for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix was cut short in rather farcical circumstances on Friday after George Russell's Williams was damaged by a loose drain cover. Bits of the Williams' floor were torn apart as the cover came loose and punctured a hole in the bottom of the car. To make matters worse, the recovery vehicle that picked up the wrecked car hit a bridge over the circuit while returning to the pit-lane. With safety checks needed on all of the circuit's drain covers, the session was cancelled altogether. "I just hit it, the biggest shock went through my body," Russell said. "The whole engine just turned off, it's ruined the floor. "It was just on the normal racing line and has ruined my session." The 6.003 km (3.73 mi) circuit has over 300 manhole covers on it, and although the problem is believed to be isolated to the single drain cover that failed, all of them will undergo further checks before the second practice session. Formula 2's qualifying session did not start as scheduled at 3pm local time, but second practice is still due to go ahead after the necessary checks have taken place. Azerbaijan first practice canceled after loose drain. Charles Coates/Getty Images When Russell's car was eventually recovered to the pit-lane and lowered back to the race track, the extensive damage to the floor of the car was clear to see. It is a huge blow to the struggling Williams team, which has been short of spare parts since the start of the year, when it missed the opening two and a half days of testing due to late completion of its 2019 car. Team boss Claire Williams said she expected better from motor racing's premier category. "The circuit needs to make sure that their drain covers are bolted down properly," she told the BBC. "That's just not acceptable. The damage that that can do could put us out this afternoon. "We have another chassis that we might need to bring in. And that's not what Formula One tracks should be." Similar incidents have happened before at street circuits, including a pit lane drain cover damaging Valtteri Bottas' Williams in Baku in 2016. In 2017, a loose drain cover at the Malaysian Grand Prix caused £500,000 of damage to one of Haas' F1 cars, which the American team successfully claimed in compensation via the Sepang circuit's insurance policy. Williams later confirmed Russell's car would undergo a chassis change, meaning it will not be able to return to the track until FP3 on Saturday morning at the earliest. After the recovery vehicle struck the bridge, the world feed showed several Williams mechanics shaking their heads in the pit-lane. It also showed Red Bull driver Max Verstappen and the team's advisor Helmut Marko laughing in disbelief at the images. Reigning world champion Lewis Hamilton also saw the lighter side of the incident, saying the cancelled session gave him more time to catch up on Game of Thrones, which he has recently been binge-watching in time for the series finale. Lewis Hamilton isn't taking the cancelled session too badly - valuable time to catch up on #GoT pic.twitter.com/mxNg17VOCc — Nate Saunders (@natesaundersF1) April 26, 2019 Neither Hamilton or Mercedes teammate Valtteri Bottas had recorded a lap before the incident, which occured after 13 minutes of the 90 allocated for the session. The only drivers to set a timed lap were Ferrari pair Charles Leclerc and Sebastian Vettel. Playing on the Baku City Circuit's promotional slogan from its first race in 2016, Daniel Ricciardo posted a sarcastic tweet as the repairs took place on track.