“The hardest thing about today was the bouncing, we’re hitting serious speeds at the end of the straight and bottoming out,” he said. Mercedes have famously suffered from persistent porpoising problems more than most teams in 2022 and so it was no surprise when the first thing Lewis Hamilton had to say about his Friday when climbing out of his car was about his car’s bumpy ride.
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After most drivers enjoyed a respite from downforce-induced porpoising around the slow streets of Monaco, the effect appeared to hit harder than ever in Baku.Įsteban Ocon said little could prepare him for the impact of the bumps that got so bad at points in practice he felt as if he was “going to lose my helmet at the end of the straight” and far beyond the physical challenge drivers anticipate.Īdvert | Become a RaceFans supporter and go ad-free While the air over the cars was causing drivers difficulties, so was the airflow beneath them. “I had a couple of lock-ups, but otherwise it was a pretty smooth day.” “It was incredibly windy during FP1, which meant it was very easy to lock a wheel under braking or run up an escape road,” said the Aston Martin driver. Sebastian Vettel also found the conditions a challenge. Gallery: 2022 Azerbaijan Grand Prix practice in picturesThe inconvenient gusts of wind caught out drivers across the field – even the two fastest drivers Leclerc and Perez, who both had to bail out of attempts to make it through corners and extract their cars from the escape roads. “Also the wind today – gusts of 35-40kph at times – it’s nasty when you’re inside the car. “But with the cars we have it’s worse over the bumps, it’s worse under braking, which makes it tricky. “I mean, Baku’s hard enough normally,” said Lando Norris after ending his day as the tenth fastest driver. Throw into the mix gusts of wind so fast they would break the pit lane speed limit at some circuits and it becomes easier to see why the many run-offs around the six-kilometre course greeted a wide selection of drivers on this first day of running.
But this is Baku and there is no such thing as a straightforward day in the cockpit around one of the most unforgiving venues on the calendar – especially in these heavier, ground effect cars of 2022. Looking at the times from Friday, it might be easy to assume it was a typical first day of practice by 2022 standards, with Charles Leclerc setting the fastest time only a quarter of a second quicker than the Red Bulls of Sergio Perez and Max Verstappen.
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