F1: Colapinto second to last in first Azerbaijan GP practice | OneFootball

The Argentine finished ahead of his teammate Pierre Gasly, but was two and a half seconds behind Lando Norris, who led the session. The second round will begin at 9.

Franco Colapinto finished 19th in the first free practice session of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix in Formula 1. The A525 once again showed power issues on the long straight of the Baku street circuit, and both the Argentine and Pierre Gasly ended up at the back of the pack. The native of Pilar set a time of 1:45.299 and was more than two and a half seconds behind Lando Norris, the session leader. The positive note is that he finished just over a tenth ahead of his teammate.

It was not the best session to gain confidence heading into the weekend. The track was very dirty, with many bumps, and to make matters worse, there was a red flag that lasted 26 minutes due to a piece of rubber coming off on one of the curbs.

For this reason, Colapinto was only able to complete 14 laps and was one of the drivers with the fewest laps, along with Lewis Hamilton and Oscar Piastri. Despite the few laps, he was far off the pace compared to the rest of the grid. Esteban Ocon, who finished 18th, was eight and a half tenths ahead of the Alpine driver.

Towards the end of the session, Franco tested qualifying pace with soft tires, managed to improve his times and finish ahead of Gasly. This was the only positive news of Friday morning, considering that the Argentine still does not have his seat secured for next season.

Between sessions, work was done on Colapinto’s A525 aiming to improve that crucial “feeling” on this circuit. From 9 a.m. Argentine time, the second free practice session will take place.

FP1 Standings of the Azerbaijan GP

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇪🇸 here.