Oliver Bearman wasted no time acclimatizing himself to the Baku circuit during his first visit, as he topped the opening session of the Formula 2 weekend and ended Free Practice as the fastest driver. Bearman, who races for PREMA Racing, posted a time of 1:54.063 late in the session after gaining an advantageous slipstream down the main straight.
Isack Hadjar and Kush Maini, both fellow rookies, finished in second and third place respectively. The session came to an early end after Arthur Leclerc spun late on, and was unable to continue.
The circuit’s fresh resurfacing made the early laps tricky, as the drivers struggled with the low grip. However, times continued to fall as the surface cleaned up, with Ralph Boschung being the first driver to dip below the two-minute mark. Half an hour before the end of the session, Hadjar went to the top of the leaderboard with a time of 1:56.553 in the Hitech Pulse-Eight #10 car.
As the sun emerged in the second half of the session, the times fell further. Frederik Vesti, Bearman’s PREMA Racing teammate, took the lead with a time of 1:55.827, with Jack Doohan in second place, just 0.050s behind. Maini finished third, a tenth behind Vesti’s time.
Bearman’s time of 1:54.457, which he set with just under 10 minutes remaining, briefly put him at the top of the leaderboard before Hadjar retook the lead. However, Bearman picked up a perfect tow from MP Motorsport’s Jehan Daruvala to set a time of 1:54.063, two-tenths faster than anyone else, with just three minutes remaining.
Maini finished third, making it a rookie 1-2-3 ahead of qualifying, which is set to start at 15:00 local time. Maloney was forced to perform a three-point turn down the narrow run-off area at Turn 3 after skating straight on fresh out of the pits on cold tires.
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