George Russell capped off the Thursday in Baku by topping the second follow session for the 2026 Azerbaijan Grand Prix. Nonetheless, behind the Mercedes driver’s blistering tempo, FP2 proved to be a chaotic, incident-filled hour outlined by wall strikes, purple flags, and energy unit anxieties throughout the grid.
Because the solar started to set over the Metropolis of Winds, George Russell doubled down on Thursday on the Baku Metropolis Circuit, pacing FP2 with a commanding 1:43.347 to steer teammate Kimi Antonelli in a Silver Arrows 1-2. Antonelli recovered impressively to P2 regardless of sitting out the beginning of the session following an FP1 breakdown. The Mercedes package deal appeared essentially the most balanced throughout all three sectors of the observe, managing vitality deployment effectively to maximise prime pace down the two.2 km foremost straight.
Max Verstappen positioned his Pink Bull third, whereas Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton rounded out the highest 5 for Ferrari and Mercedes.
In comparison with the morning’s FP1, the sector logged significantly extra observe time, although disruptions remained a relentless function. Whereas a number of drivers had been compelled into the run-off areas, triggering periodic yellow flags, Arvid Lindblad was much less lucky on his first F1 weekend round this tough avenue circuit. The Racing Bulls rookie clipped the wall on the climb after Flip 15, breaking his right-front suspension and triggering the primary purple flag of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. Lindblad took no additional half within the session and resulted in P18.
The stoppage was short-lived, however the drama was removed from over. Simply because the session restarted, Oliver Bearman’s Haas energy unit gave up, leaving the Briton stranded in P20 and including to a rising listing of reliability complications throughout the paddock.
