17/06/2016
NEWS STORY
Ahead of today's opening session, the air temperature is 28 degrees C, and the track temperature is 42 degrees. Somewhat different to this time a week ago.
Needless to say, we all look forward to this session with a certain amount of trepidation. Claimed to be the fastest street circuit in motor sport the Baku city Circuit also features a number of very tight turns with barriers looking to be every bit as unforgiving as in Monaco, maybe more so, especially the section around the castle that comprises turns 8, 9 and 10.
A number of driver have expressed concern, as has Pirelli, but this is F1, where the mantra remains 'follow the money', and Azerbaijan has lots of it.
Tyres this weekend are medium, soft and supersoft, while there are two DRS zones. The first begins 630 metres before the Turn 3 braking point, the second 730 metres before the braking point for Turn 1. They share a single detection point located at Turn 20.
As one would expect, with experience of this demanding track limited to the simulator - though some drivers haven't even had that luxury - there are no reserve drivers on duty.
Furthermore, in lieu of the lack of data we can expect today to be busy.
The lights go green and Gutierrez has the honour of being the first driver to take to this new circuit. He is followed by Grosjean, Wehrlein, Haryanto, Magnussen and Nasr.
In no time at all, all but the Mercedes duo have made an appearance. That said, shortly after Hamilton and Rosberg head out.
Having completed that all-important exploratory lap, in the case of the Mercedes, Williams and Red Bulls duos, the drivers head back to the pits.
Rosberg posts the first time of the day, the German crossing the line at 1:57.306. Next time around he improves to 53.481.
Teammate Hamilton is the second driver to post a time, the Briton posting a 55.710 as Rosberg improves to 51.430.
As Bottas becomes the third driver to post a time (52.762), Rosberg improves to 50.100.
As Hamilton goes top (49.174), more drivers head out including Vettel and Raikkonen.
Massa goes fourth (53.535) Ahead of Button, Magnussen and palmer.
As Verstappen goes fourth (52.351), Vettel can only manage 13th (56.228). Raikkonen however, posts 55.296 to go ninth.
Having been the first on track, Gutierrez is also the first to take advantage of the run-offs, the Mexican going off at T15. Elsewhere, Vettel is the first driver to have a spin, the German doing a 180 in T16.
On board camera picks up on Button getting a nice tow from Vettel, the McLaren subsequently sweeping past the Ferrari.
There appears to be smoke coming from the right-rear of Verstappen's car.
Kvyat follows Gutierrez' example and experiences the run-off at T15.
Meanwhile, Hamilton has improved to 48.214 and Rosberg to 48.473. Bottas remains third, ahead of Button, Raikkonen, Verstappen and Perez.
Ericsson spins at T1 and then subsequently heads down the escape road at T3. Renault cannot afford any problems here as, following the incidents in Monaco and Canada, they have no spare chassis.
As Bottas goes quickest (47.707), courtesy of a tow right at the end of the lap.
Whatever that problem was on Verstappen's car it appears serious, the Dutch youngster is out of his car and his crew have removed the floor.
Nearly all running thus far has been on the soft tyre, though Haryanto is on the medium.
Alonso improves to fifth with a (49.127), just two places ahead of his McLaren teammate.
"We're seeing massive top speeds here," confirms Pirelli, "351kph (218 mph) from Valtteri Bottas for example."
As the camera picks up on damage to Nasr's car - one of the turning vanes is disconnected - Bottas reports "some smoke in his cockpit".
Forty minutes in and it's time to hand back a set of tyres to Pirelli.
Currently the order is: Bottas, Hamilton, Rosberg, Perez, Alonso, Hulkenberg, Button, Raikkonen, Vettel and Ricciardo.
Check out our Friday gallery, here.
While most are in their garages, the Mercedes duo are back on track on supersofts.
Red Bull has removed the gearbox on Verstappen's car and hopes to have the youngster out by the end of the session.
On the softer rubber, Rosberg improves to 46.812 and his teammate 46.489.
"There is something at the back of my seat," complains Rosberg.
Cameras pick up on the Ferrari garage where work is being carried out on the front-right brake calliper on Raikkonen's car.
"My headrest is loose," reveals Wehrlein. The German subsequently pits where his crew tape the offending head rest in to place. Teammate Haryanto is currently 18th (52.346).
Hamilton ups the ante with a 46.435 but subsequently gets it wrong at T3 and has to use the escape road. The Briton subsequently makes another mistake at T1.
While most, other than the Mercedes duo, stick with the softs, the Force India pair are on mediums.
Another lap and another off for Hamilton, again at T3. As we ponder whether it's a brake issue or testing the limits, he reports: "I've hit the wall guys". Replay does indeed show him brushing the wall with the right-hand side of his car.
Bottas closes to within 0.661s of Hamilton, as Ricciardo's session comes to an end after clouting the barriers.
Red Flag.
The Australian hit the barriers at T15, doing substantial damage to the right-hand side of the car. "I crashed in Turn 15," he tells his team. "Stay in the car," he is told, "the session is red flagged."
With no room for cranes to lift the car from the track, it could be a fairly lengthy wait until the session resumes.
With around 17:00 remaining, Hamilton is quickest, ahead of Rosberg, Bottas, Alonso, Perez, Button, Massa, Hulkenberg, Vettel and Grosjean.
A JCB arrives to lift Ricciardo's car to safety.
The session resumes at 14:17, meaning there are 13 minutes remaining.
Alonso gets things underway again, followed by Sainz. Hamilton looks unlikely to run again as the team is making set-up changes to his car.
As Rosberg goes off at T1, Sainz makes a mistake and goes heads first into the barriers at T15. It not a hard impact, and he is able to continue, but the nose is clearly damaged.
Interestingly, Ericsson goes off at T1 as he duels with Grosjean, neither driver wiling to yield.
Toro Rosso, using the 2015 Ferrari engine, was expecting a difficult weekend, but surely they expected better than 16th and 17th. Both drivers, like the Mercedes duo, are the only ones to run the supersofts in this session.
A late improvement sees Sainz go eighth, whilst Vettel goes fifth having posted PBs in the first two sectors.
The session ends, with Hamilton quickest ahead of Rosberg, Bottas, Alonso, Vettel, Perez, Button, Massa, Sainz and Hulkenberg.
Grosjean is eleventh, ahead of Raikkonen, Ricciardo, Gutierrez, Ericsson, Verstappen, Kvyat, Palmer, Magnussen, Wehrlein, Nasr and Haryanto.
Not a single Renault-powered runner in the top ten, whilst Red Bull is further hampered by Ricciardo's crash and Verstappen's gearbox issue.
Meanwhile, out front, it's business as usual.
Check out our Friday gallery, here.