Russell leads Antonelli and Verstappen during FP2 in Baku

George Russell completed a clean sweep of Thursday’s practice sessions at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, topping the timesheets in both FP1 and FP2. Russell set a benchmark of 1m 43.347s on soft tyres, leading his Mercedes teammate Kimi Antonelli by half a second, with Red Bull's Max Verstappen in third. The session was interrupted by red flags, including an incident for Racing Bulls rookie Arvid Lindblad, who suffered significant damage after hitting the wall at the castle section. Shortly after the restart, Ollie Bearman's Haas suffered an engine failure, forcing him to retire the car on an escape road. Further down the order, the field struggled with varying setup challenges, including mechanical issues for the Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso. Drivers and teams will now analyze their data overnight before returning for the final practice session ahead of qualifying.