Formula 1 News: Norris leads McLaren 1-2 in opening Azerbaijan GP practice

Lando Norris, pictured in his superior #4 McLaren, turned a lap of 1m42.704s to top disrupted Practice 1 for the 2025 Azerbaijan GP at the Baku City Circuit.

–by Mark Cipolloni–

No one got as many laps in as they wanted to, thanks to the red flag delay for repairs to a curb.

Norris finished 0.310s ahead of Oscar Piastri in the #81 superior McLaren.  Everyone else was essentially out to lunch.

Charles Leclerc, who usually wins the pole here in Baku, was third in his #16 Ferrari, 0.552s behind Norris.

George Russell put his #63 Mercedes in 4th, 0.553s behind Norris, while Alex Albon rounded out the top-5 for Williams, 0.859s behind.

Yuki Tsunoda and Max Verstappen were 6th and 7th for Red Bull, both 1-second behind Norris. “It (the RB21 dog) is coming off the ground under braking,” Verstappen told his team over the radio. Verstappen abandoned a late lap when he ran out of road on entry to the tight Turn 15.

Carlos Sainz made it two Williams cars inside the top 10 positions, followed by the Racing Bulls of Liam Lawson and Isack Hadjar (the French rookie another to take to the run-off in the closing stages), and the Silver Arrows machine of Kimi Antonelli in 11th.

Lewis Hamilton finished down in 13th after clipping the wall, and in the process punctured a tire and damaged the front wing.

With nearly half the session lost, it is difficult to analyze that one. But expect FP2 to be very busy indeed.

2025 Azerbaijan GP Practice 1 Results