As predicted, the opening day of practice for the inaugural Azerbaijan Grand Prix (last year's race was run under the label of the ‘European GP') was frantic and busy – and punctuated by numerous off-track excursions, yellow flags, and a couple of red-flag stoppages.
Through it all, McLaren driver Stoffel Vandoorne had a few harmless offs down a couple of escape roads – but ended the day 17th fastest, having posted a 17th-quickest time of 1m46.174s earlier in FP2.
This was the Belgian drivers first real taste of the track itself after only driving it on the simulator…
“Today, we chose to concentrate on our long-run pace because we knew we'd be taking grid penalties for the race,” he said. “Still, I quickly got to grips with the track in FP1, and I think there's a bit more to come tomorrow. The car feels pretty positive around here, which is good because you need confidence on a street circuit.”
“I also think the preparatory work I did in the sim has paid off pretty well – I felt immediately comfortable with where I had to brake, so it seems like the work was really worth it.”
“The tyres are quite tricky again here; it looks like everyone is struggling to warm them up, with lots of people having lock-ups. It's tricky – especially in the braking zones, because the tyres cool down on the long straights and then you have to brake very hard into the corners. The car's really on a knife-edge in terms of extracting a good lap-time.”
