Ricciardo aims for Azerbaijan double
GETTY IMAGES DANIEL Ricciardo and Red Bull set the pace in the second practice for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix yesterday, as the Australian driver chases his second straight win.
Ricciardo, the winner in Baku last year, is coming off victory two weeks ago in China. He has not won more than one race in a season since 2014 and is considering whether to move to Mercedes or Ferrari for next season, in search of a car capable of winning the championship.
‘‘It’s all we can ask for today. I’m pretty happy with how the car felt,’’ Ricciardo said. ‘‘Even if we can’t maybe qualify on the front row, I think the race car will be strong.’’
Kimi Raikkonen was secondfastest for Ferrari, 0.069sec off Ricciardo’s time. His Ferrari team-mate Sebastian Vettel, the championship leader, could manage only 11th after spinning.
‘‘I think I struggled probably a little bit more than the others, but I’m not too worried,’’ Vettel said. ‘‘We can improve.’’
Max Verstappen crashed again in the first practice, but recovered to post the third-fastest time. However, he limped back to the pits at the end of the day with engine issues.
The Mercedes duo of Valtteri Bottas — fastest in the first session — and defending champion Lewis Hamilton ranked fourth and fifth, respectively, in the second practice. They fought with Ferrari to get enough heat into their tyres on the slippery and dusty Baku street circuit. Baku’s long straight means teams run a low-downforce set-up, which can make it hard to negotiate the tight street corners on the rest of the lap.
‘‘We weren’t quick enough today,’’ Hamilton said. ‘‘Both Red Bull and Ferrari seem to be ahead of us at the moment. I’m going to be knocking on the doors of all the engineers overnight, so that we can hopefully make the right changes.’’ Fernando Alonso managed a rare sixth place for McLaren.
While numerous cars strayed into the runoff areas on the lowgrip track, Verstappen’s was the only crash. At Sauber, Marcus Ericsson’s second session was cut short by a gearbox problem.
Dry conditions are expected for today’s qualifying and tomorrow’s race, though some expect wind gusts to cause trouble. - AP