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Telly Talk Supreme
Azerbaijan GP: Charles Leclerc fastest in practice
By Andrew Benson
Qualifying is live on BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra and the BBC Sport website from 14:00 BST
Charles Leclerc led a Ferrari one-two in an incident-packed second practice at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.
The 21-year-old led the way for much of the session and ended it 0.324 seconds ahead of nominal team leader Sebastian Vettel with Lewis Hamilton third.
Hamilton was 0.669secs off Leclerc's pace as Ferrari made a flying start to the weekend with an upgraded car.
There were two red-flag periods after crashes for Lance Stroll and Daniil Kvyat.
Stroll lost control of his Racing Point at Turn Two early in the session, taking off his front-left corner after losing the rear on the way into the corner.
And Kvyat had a big impact at Turn Seven with about 25 minutes to go, again because of a rear-end snap, heavily damaging the left-hand side of his Toro Rosso.
Kvyat's crash brought to an end what had been until then a promising session for the Russian. He had a late start to the session as the team fixed a problem on his car, but he had just beaten team-mate Alexander Albon by 0.039secs to go sixth quickest when he braked too late trying to go for a faster time and smashed the car into the wall.
Safety concerns
Russell will be unable to take part until final practice on Saturday as his Williams requires a change of chassis
The two incidents cost the teams more time, after the first session was cancelled because George Russell's Williams hit a manhole cover, destroying his car.
In farcical scenes, the truck bringing Russell's car back to the pits crashed into a bridge over the track.
That leaked hydraulic fluid on to Russell's car beneath.
Only the two Ferraris had set lap times when Russell's incident happened, and the session was ended so officials could repair the cover and check the more than 300 around the rest of the track.
In the Formula 2 support race qualifying session that followed two marshals were run over by the rear wheels of a stricken car.
And the stewards may be busy after the second session following two scary-looking incidents.
In one, Red Bull's Pierre Gasly went straight on at Turn Three despite there being waved yellow flags there because Romain Grosjean's Haas had already gone off. Waved yellows means a driver has to slow down and be prepared to stop.
A few minutes later, Hamilton had a contretemps with Grosjean's team-mate Kevin Magnussen on the fast run towards Turn 15, the Dane swerving towards the Mercedes at high speed and then gesticulating at the world champion.
The manhole incident happened between Turns Two and Three
Ferrari look fast
Leclerc's pace threw down the gauntlet to his rivals on a weekend that has started with him making it clear that he intends to force a re-think from Ferrari on their policy of favouring Vettel with team orders this season.
Leclerc was immediately quick at the start of the session, his time on the middle-compound 'medium' tyres 0.7 seconds quicker than Hamilton despite brushing the wall out of Turn Seven, and more than a second up on Vettel.
On the fastest 'soft' tyres, Leclerc went fastest on his first run, nearly 0.7secs quicker than Vettel, before the German responded to sneak ahead, and then Leclerc reclaimed top spot with his third lap.
The Ferraris, fitted with a major aerodynamic upgrade, appeared to have an edge over Mercedes, with Hamilton ending up 0.669secs behind Leclerc.
Red Bull's Max Verstappen was fourth fastest, 0.921secs behind Leclerc, ahead of Hamilton's team-mate Valtteri Bottas.
Swami
By Andrew Benson
Qualifying is live on BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra and the BBC Sport website from 14:00 BST
Charles Leclerc led a Ferrari one-two in an incident-packed second practice at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.
The 21-year-old led the way for much of the session and ended it 0.324 seconds ahead of nominal team leader Sebastian Vettel with Lewis Hamilton third.
Hamilton was 0.669secs off Leclerc's pace as Ferrari made a flying start to the weekend with an upgraded car.
There were two red-flag periods after crashes for Lance Stroll and Daniil Kvyat.
Stroll lost control of his Racing Point at Turn Two early in the session, taking off his front-left corner after losing the rear on the way into the corner.
And Kvyat had a big impact at Turn Seven with about 25 minutes to go, again because of a rear-end snap, heavily damaging the left-hand side of his Toro Rosso.
Kvyat's crash brought to an end what had been until then a promising session for the Russian. He had a late start to the session as the team fixed a problem on his car, but he had just beaten team-mate Alexander Albon by 0.039secs to go sixth quickest when he braked too late trying to go for a faster time and smashed the car into the wall.
Safety concerns
Russell will be unable to take part until final practice on Saturday as his Williams requires a change of chassis
The two incidents cost the teams more time, after the first session was cancelled because George Russell's Williams hit a manhole cover, destroying his car.
In farcical scenes, the truck bringing Russell's car back to the pits crashed into a bridge over the track.
That leaked hydraulic fluid on to Russell's car beneath.
Only the two Ferraris had set lap times when Russell's incident happened, and the session was ended so officials could repair the cover and check the more than 300 around the rest of the track.
In the Formula 2 support race qualifying session that followed two marshals were run over by the rear wheels of a stricken car.
And the stewards may be busy after the second session following two scary-looking incidents.
In one, Red Bull's Pierre Gasly went straight on at Turn Three despite there being waved yellow flags there because Romain Grosjean's Haas had already gone off. Waved yellows means a driver has to slow down and be prepared to stop.
A few minutes later, Hamilton had a contretemps with Grosjean's team-mate Kevin Magnussen on the fast run towards Turn 15, the Dane swerving towards the Mercedes at high speed and then gesticulating at the world champion.
The manhole incident happened between Turns Two and Three
Ferrari look fast
Leclerc's pace threw down the gauntlet to his rivals on a weekend that has started with him making it clear that he intends to force a re-think from Ferrari on their policy of favouring Vettel with team orders this season.
Leclerc was immediately quick at the start of the session, his time on the middle-compound 'medium' tyres 0.7 seconds quicker than Hamilton despite brushing the wall out of Turn Seven, and more than a second up on Vettel.
On the fastest 'soft' tyres, Leclerc went fastest on his first run, nearly 0.7secs quicker than Vettel, before the German responded to sneak ahead, and then Leclerc reclaimed top spot with his third lap.
The Ferraris, fitted with a major aerodynamic upgrade, appeared to have an edge over Mercedes, with Hamilton ending up 0.669secs behind Leclerc.
Red Bull's Max Verstappen was fourth fastest, 0.921secs behind Leclerc, ahead of Hamilton's team-mate Valtteri Bottas.
Swami
Swami
Telly Talk Supreme
Azerbaijan GP: Valtteri Bottas on pole after Charles Leclerc crash
By Andrew Benson
Sunday's race is live on the BBC Sport website and 5 live Sports Extra at 13:10 BST
Valtteri Bottas led Lewis Hamilton to a Mercedes one-two in Azerbaijan Grand Prix qualifying as Ferrari's challenge crumbled.
Charles Leclerc had looked favourite but Ferrari's new star crashed in second qualifying and will start ninth.
"I am stupid," Leclerc said on the radio before saying on social media: "No excuses. I've been useless. I will push to have a better tomorrow."
His team-mate Sebastian Vettel was third, 0.302 seconds off the pace.
Hamilton had been fastest on the first runs in final qualifying but appeared to be compromised by being too close behind Bottas at the start of his final lap, and then lost 0.3secs in the first sector.
He made up time on the rest of the lap but ended up just 0.059secs behind the Finn.
Leclerc has outperformed his illustrious team-mate, but this is his first big mistake
Fast Ferrari mess it up again
It was a grave disappointment for Ferrari, for whom Leclerc had been the form man from the start of the weekend.
Leclerc again looked quick in first qualifying, although Red Bull's Pierre Gasly pipped him to fastest time with a later lap, and the 21-year-old was quick on his first lap on medium tyres in second qualifying, with Ferrari preferring them for the start of the race, only to smash into the wall at Turn Eight on his second lap.
Leclerc went in too fast to the tight left-hander leading into Baku's section around the historic medieval castle, locked a wheel and understeered into the barriers.
He was clearly dejected as he climbed out of the car and looked to the skies in dismay.
Turn 8 proved to be a nightmare for several drivers
"I am very disappointed in myself," Leclerc said. "I have been very strong all weekend but it is a mistake I shouldn't have done. I will focus on that for a few hours and understand what I could have done to not have that mistake but I will push to come back and have a good race tomorrow."
Leclerc's pace on his first lap was strong enough to get him through into the top 10 shoot-out but he could not take part as a result of the extensive damage to his car.
But because Alfa Romeo's Antonio Giovinazzi has a 10-place grid penalty, Leclerc will be promoted ahead of him and start ninth. From there, on a divergent strategy starting on the mediums, he is likely to feature in the fight for a podium by the end of the race.
Red Bull's Max Verstappen was fourth, 0.574secs off the pace, ahead of Racing Point's Sergio Perez, Toro Rosso's Daniil Kvyat and McLaren's Lando Norris, who continued the impressive start to his debut season with eighth place.
At the back, George Russell impressed to out-qualify team-mate Robert Kubica despite missing all his Friday running after his car was damaged when he ran over a loose man-hole cover.
Russell was 0.393secs quicker than Kubica, who ended his session in the wall at Turn Eight, misjudging his entry, hitting the inside wall and cannoning into the barrier on the outside.
Kubica was the first to come to grief around the medieval castle
What they said
Bottas said: "I am really happy. Ferrari have been really strong. Charles was out by a mistake and as a team we did everything to take an advantage."
Hamilton said: "It has been so close all weekend. Ferrari have looked incredibly quick. Valtteri did an exceptional job in qualifying. It is a massively great result for us. We didn't have an upgrade and there others did and for us to lock out the front row due to circumstances I am really grateful for it."
Vettel admitted Ferrari were disappointed with the result.
He said: "I don't know if they stole it. I think they were a bit quicker than us today. It was difficult to find the ring balance of pushing with the out lap and playing with two and trying to get something. I had a good lap but I had no tow.
"Happy to get sort of the maximum out of it but from a team point of view we were expecting to have a better session."
Swami
By Andrew Benson
Sunday's race is live on the BBC Sport website and 5 live Sports Extra at 13:10 BST
Valtteri Bottas led Lewis Hamilton to a Mercedes one-two in Azerbaijan Grand Prix qualifying as Ferrari's challenge crumbled.
Charles Leclerc had looked favourite but Ferrari's new star crashed in second qualifying and will start ninth.
"I am stupid," Leclerc said on the radio before saying on social media: "No excuses. I've been useless. I will push to have a better tomorrow."
His team-mate Sebastian Vettel was third, 0.302 seconds off the pace.
Hamilton had been fastest on the first runs in final qualifying but appeared to be compromised by being too close behind Bottas at the start of his final lap, and then lost 0.3secs in the first sector.
He made up time on the rest of the lap but ended up just 0.059secs behind the Finn.
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- What does Verstappen do on weekends off?
Leclerc has outperformed his illustrious team-mate, but this is his first big mistake
Fast Ferrari mess it up again
It was a grave disappointment for Ferrari, for whom Leclerc had been the form man from the start of the weekend.
Leclerc again looked quick in first qualifying, although Red Bull's Pierre Gasly pipped him to fastest time with a later lap, and the 21-year-old was quick on his first lap on medium tyres in second qualifying, with Ferrari preferring them for the start of the race, only to smash into the wall at Turn Eight on his second lap.
Leclerc went in too fast to the tight left-hander leading into Baku's section around the historic medieval castle, locked a wheel and understeered into the barriers.
He was clearly dejected as he climbed out of the car and looked to the skies in dismay.
Turn 8 proved to be a nightmare for several drivers
"I am very disappointed in myself," Leclerc said. "I have been very strong all weekend but it is a mistake I shouldn't have done. I will focus on that for a few hours and understand what I could have done to not have that mistake but I will push to come back and have a good race tomorrow."
Leclerc's pace on his first lap was strong enough to get him through into the top 10 shoot-out but he could not take part as a result of the extensive damage to his car.
But because Alfa Romeo's Antonio Giovinazzi has a 10-place grid penalty, Leclerc will be promoted ahead of him and start ninth. From there, on a divergent strategy starting on the mediums, he is likely to feature in the fight for a podium by the end of the race.
Red Bull's Max Verstappen was fourth, 0.574secs off the pace, ahead of Racing Point's Sergio Perez, Toro Rosso's Daniil Kvyat and McLaren's Lando Norris, who continued the impressive start to his debut season with eighth place.
At the back, George Russell impressed to out-qualify team-mate Robert Kubica despite missing all his Friday running after his car was damaged when he ran over a loose man-hole cover.
Russell was 0.393secs quicker than Kubica, who ended his session in the wall at Turn Eight, misjudging his entry, hitting the inside wall and cannoning into the barrier on the outside.
Kubica was the first to come to grief around the medieval castle
What they said
Bottas said: "I am really happy. Ferrari have been really strong. Charles was out by a mistake and as a team we did everything to take an advantage."
Hamilton said: "It has been so close all weekend. Ferrari have looked incredibly quick. Valtteri did an exceptional job in qualifying. It is a massively great result for us. We didn't have an upgrade and there others did and for us to lock out the front row due to circumstances I am really grateful for it."
Vettel admitted Ferrari were disappointed with the result.
He said: "I don't know if they stole it. I think they were a bit quicker than us today. It was difficult to find the ring balance of pushing with the out lap and playing with two and trying to get something. I had a good lap but I had no tow.
"Happy to get sort of the maximum out of it but from a team point of view we were expecting to have a better session."
Swami
Swami
Telly Talk Supreme
Valtteri Bottas beats Lewis Hamilton to Azerbaijan win
By Andrew Benson
Mercedes set an all-time record of four consecutive one-twos at the start of a season as Valtteri Bottas beat Lewis Hamilton to win the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.
For the fourth race in a row, Ferrari were unable to challenge Mercedes - and again there were questions about the strategy chosen by the Italian team.
Sebastian Vettel finished third, never very far behind the Mercedes, but team-mate Charles Leclerc finished fifth when it looked for a while as if he might have been able to take fourth ahead of Red Bull's Max Verstappen.
Leclerc's consolation on a weekend that he had looked like dominating until crashing in qualifying was a point for fastest lap.
The result makes Mercedes the first team ever to start the season in such a dominant fashion and puts their drivers in an enviable position in the championship.
Bottas returns to the lead of the championship, leading Hamilton by the point he gained for fastest lap in Australia. Vettel is 35 points behind.
In 1992 William won the first three races with one-two finishes. Nigel Mansell won his one and only F1 world title that year
Mercedes in total control
Hamilton closed in on Bottas in the final two laps looking for the win but made an error running wide at the last corner just as the Finn got the DRS overtaking aid by coming up to lap Williams' George Russell and the leader held on.
Bottas came close to losing the lead at the start, when Hamilton got alongside the Finn into Turn One after a better start from second on the grid.
But Hamilton gave Bottas plenty of room on the outside, and that allowed Bottas to hold him off on the runs to Turns Two and Three, after which he controlled the race.
Mercedes have the best car, but the margins appear to be quite small. But Ferrari are making it easier for them.
Leclerc might have won had he not crashed in qualifying, there are questions over the tyre strategy in wanting to start on the mediums, and also over how the team ran Leclerc's race.
That's Bottas' fifth career victory. Source: Forix
What were Ferrari doing with Leclerc?
Leclerc's off-set strategy, starting on the medium tyres, provided the main interest in the race.
The 21-year-old started eighth after crashing in qualifying when he had appeared the favourite for the weekend, and once clear of the midfield runners he began carving huge chunks out of the gap to the front-runners.
By lap 11, he had caught Vettel, who Ferrari immediately called into the pits to change from the softs to the mediums, and Mercedes followed the German in with Bottas and Hamilton on consecutive laps.
Leclerc said after the race: "There is nothing wrong with the team, it's just my mistake yesterday which I have put myself down enough for"
That put Leclerc in the lead, needing to go long on the mediums and hope to fight back on fresh soft tyres in the closing stages.
Bottas, Hamilton and Vettel closed in and the Finn was on Leclerc's tail by lap 31, and passed him a lap later.
Leclerc pleaded to be pitted for fresh tyres immediately, but the team told him they wanted to wait because they were worried about the softs making it to the end.
But they waited only two laps - in which time Leclerc lost eight seconds to Bottas, at least a second of which was caused by letting team-mate Vettel by.
That left Leclerc well over 20 seconds behind Verstappen, and in a lonely fifth place.
After the race, Renault's Daniel Ricciardo was given a three-place penalty for the next race in Spain after reversing into Toro Rosso's Daniil Kvyat.
The pair had been battling for 10th place when Ricciardo lunged up in the inside at Turn Three. He misjudged it and ran straight on, meaning Kvyat could also could not turn into the corner. Attempting to rejoin, Ricciardo did not see Kvyat and simply reversed into his car.
Driver of the day
Tough one to call on an uneventful day but Bottas drove flawlessly in the lead, holding off Hamilton, so let's give it to him
What they said
Bottas: "It was actually a tough race even though not that much was happening at the front - Lewis was putting on pressure, but everything was under control. I'm happy to take the chequered flag and take first place."
Hamilton: "Congratulations to Valtteri, he drove a fantastic race, made no mistakes and deserved the win. It was all lost in qualifying. It's great for the team and this is the best start of the season we've ever had."
Vettel: "The first stint was really poor I struggled to get the tyres to work, then I damaged them, then when they did get hot I couldn't use use them properly they were damaged and I couldn't get a feel in confidence for the car - that's not so good around here.
"The last four races we were not quite there so we're not the favourites going into Barcelona, we have some upgrades coming and we need to chase them down."
Swami
By Andrew Benson
Mercedes set an all-time record of four consecutive one-twos at the start of a season as Valtteri Bottas beat Lewis Hamilton to win the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.
For the fourth race in a row, Ferrari were unable to challenge Mercedes - and again there were questions about the strategy chosen by the Italian team.
Sebastian Vettel finished third, never very far behind the Mercedes, but team-mate Charles Leclerc finished fifth when it looked for a while as if he might have been able to take fourth ahead of Red Bull's Max Verstappen.
Leclerc's consolation on a weekend that he had looked like dominating until crashing in qualifying was a point for fastest lap.
The result makes Mercedes the first team ever to start the season in such a dominant fashion and puts their drivers in an enviable position in the championship.
Bottas returns to the lead of the championship, leading Hamilton by the point he gained for fastest lap in Australia. Vettel is 35 points behind.
In 1992 William won the first three races with one-two finishes. Nigel Mansell won his one and only F1 world title that year
Mercedes in total control
Hamilton closed in on Bottas in the final two laps looking for the win but made an error running wide at the last corner just as the Finn got the DRS overtaking aid by coming up to lap Williams' George Russell and the leader held on.
Bottas came close to losing the lead at the start, when Hamilton got alongside the Finn into Turn One after a better start from second on the grid.
But Hamilton gave Bottas plenty of room on the outside, and that allowed Bottas to hold him off on the runs to Turns Two and Three, after which he controlled the race.
Mercedes have the best car, but the margins appear to be quite small. But Ferrari are making it easier for them.
Leclerc might have won had he not crashed in qualifying, there are questions over the tyre strategy in wanting to start on the mediums, and also over how the team ran Leclerc's race.
That's Bottas' fifth career victory. Source: Forix
What were Ferrari doing with Leclerc?
Leclerc's off-set strategy, starting on the medium tyres, provided the main interest in the race.
The 21-year-old started eighth after crashing in qualifying when he had appeared the favourite for the weekend, and once clear of the midfield runners he began carving huge chunks out of the gap to the front-runners.
By lap 11, he had caught Vettel, who Ferrari immediately called into the pits to change from the softs to the mediums, and Mercedes followed the German in with Bottas and Hamilton on consecutive laps.
Leclerc said after the race: "There is nothing wrong with the team, it's just my mistake yesterday which I have put myself down enough for"
That put Leclerc in the lead, needing to go long on the mediums and hope to fight back on fresh soft tyres in the closing stages.
Bottas, Hamilton and Vettel closed in and the Finn was on Leclerc's tail by lap 31, and passed him a lap later.
Leclerc pleaded to be pitted for fresh tyres immediately, but the team told him they wanted to wait because they were worried about the softs making it to the end.
But they waited only two laps - in which time Leclerc lost eight seconds to Bottas, at least a second of which was caused by letting team-mate Vettel by.
That left Leclerc well over 20 seconds behind Verstappen, and in a lonely fifth place.
After the race, Renault's Daniel Ricciardo was given a three-place penalty for the next race in Spain after reversing into Toro Rosso's Daniil Kvyat.
The pair had been battling for 10th place when Ricciardo lunged up in the inside at Turn Three. He misjudged it and ran straight on, meaning Kvyat could also could not turn into the corner. Attempting to rejoin, Ricciardo did not see Kvyat and simply reversed into his car.
Driver of the day
Tough one to call on an uneventful day but Bottas drove flawlessly in the lead, holding off Hamilton, so let's give it to him
What they said
Bottas: "It was actually a tough race even though not that much was happening at the front - Lewis was putting on pressure, but everything was under control. I'm happy to take the chequered flag and take first place."
Hamilton: "Congratulations to Valtteri, he drove a fantastic race, made no mistakes and deserved the win. It was all lost in qualifying. It's great for the team and this is the best start of the season we've ever had."
Vettel: "The first stint was really poor I struggled to get the tyres to work, then I damaged them, then when they did get hot I couldn't use use them properly they were damaged and I couldn't get a feel in confidence for the car - that's not so good around here.
"The last four races we were not quite there so we're not the favourites going into Barcelona, we have some upgrades coming and we need to chase them down."
Swami