The Baku city circuit immediately puts on a show and confirms the good feelings of Mercedes in this glimpse of the season. George Russell finished the session with the fastest time ever, lining up all the opponents thanks to a clean and aggressive lap between the walls of the Azerbaijani track, one of the most insidious and fastest on the calendar.
Behind him, completing a front row all Mercedes, the young Kimi Antonelli. The Italian rookie continues to impress in terms of maturity and speed, confirming how much good he showed in the first seasonal releases. A second place that weighs and feeds the ambitions of the Brackley team, back in the spotlight after a complicated period.
Ferrari, for its part, pursues. Charles Leclerc finished in fourth position, a result that leaves some room for improvement but which nevertheless testifies to the competitiveness of the red package on a track with particular characteristics, made up of long straights and tight corners in quick succession. Behind him, Lewis Hamilton, who with the new Ferrari jersey is still looking for the perfect feeling with the single-seater in a context, that of Baku, historically difficult even for the most experienced drivers.
The Baku track, with its 6,003 kilometres and the famous city stretch that runs along the ancient walls of the Azerbaijani capital, puts a strain on tyre set-ups and strategies. Not surprisingly, in recent editions, the circuit has often given surprises and twists, also due to the difficulty of finding the right balance between a slow and technical sector and one at very high speed where downforce becomes a crucial factor.
For Mercedes, first and second place are a strong signal ahead of the rest of the weekend. Russell, reduced by a season of constant growth, seems to have found the skein of the skein with the new car, while Antonelli confirms one of the happiest notes of the recent Formula 1 scene, capable of quickly adapting to complex tracks such as that of Baku.
At Ferrari, on the other hand, it remains to be seen whether the gaps accumulated in this phase can be recovered during the subsequent free practice sessions and in qualifying. Leclerc, who has always been a specialist in city circuits, aims to regain the confidence necessary to play for pole position, while Hamilton continues his process of adapting to a team and a car that are still relatively new to him.
The Baku weekend therefore promises to be a hard-fought one, with Mercedes starting with the favours of the forecast but a Ferrari ready to enter the fight for the top positions. Appointment to the next sessions to understand if the balances seen in this first exit will be confirmed or if, as often happens on the Azerbaijani track, the surprises are just around the corner.
Written by Fabio Averna
Article produced by the AiSportNews newsroom with the support of artificial intelligence tools.