George Russell sets the fastest time in Free Practice 1 for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix in Baku, with Max Verstappen among the drivers on his pace. Multiple outlets report that Russell leads Verstappen after the opening session.
Kimi Antonelli, the championship leader, has an incident that prevents him from completing the session. Sources say Antonelli stops on track due to a reliability problem, described as a hydraulics issue, and his running is cut short. The early stoppage interrupts his practice and affects the amount of data he can collect in FP1.
The outlets largely align on the session order and the cause of Antonelli’s stoppage, with minor differences in wording. Overall, they characterize FP1 as Russell establishing early pace while Antonelli’s mechanical setback limits his contribution to the session’s running.
