Baku: Daniel Ricciardo and Red Bull set the pace in the second practice for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix on Friday as the Australian driver chases his second win in a row.
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 publicly considering whether to move to Mercedes or Ferrari for next season in search of a car capable of winning the championship.
Kimi Raikkonen was second-fastest for Ferrari, 0.069 seconds off Ricciardo’s time. His Ferrari teammate Sebastian Vettel, the championship leader, could manage only 11th.
The Dutchman had vowed to drive faster but with more self-control after his costly collision with Ferrari’s Formula One championship leader Sebastian Vettel in China.
The 20-year-old Red Bull driver blew a potential victory with a rash attempt to pass the four-times world champion in Shanghai two weeks ago while having the advantage of fresher tyres.
The Dutchman also botched a move on Mercedes’ reigning champion Lewis Hamilton and ended up finishing fifth after a 10 second penalty.
“Nobody is perfect,” Verstappen said.
“I am very happy to listen and also improve like everyone else. These situations just make you a better driver at the end of the day.
“You learn from yourself and that doesn’t mean you have to drive slower, it actually means you have to drive faster. But maybe with a little bit in control,” he added.
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 tires on the slippery and dusty Baku street circuit.
Fernando Alonso managed a rare sixth place for McLaren.
While numerous cars strayed into the run-off areas on the low-grip track, Verstappen’s was the only crash of the day. At Sauber, Marcus Ericsson’s second session was cut short by a gearbox problem.
In the first session, Bottas was narrowly ahead of Ricciardo, and Force India’s Sergio Perez beat Hamilton into third.
Meanwhile, Former Formula One world champion, Jenson Button, said on Friday that he will race in the World Endurance Championship this season including the Le Mans 24 Hours on June 16 and 17.
The 38-year-old Briton won the F1 title in 2009 and retired before the 2016 season. He took part in one endurance race, the 24 Hours of Spa in 1999.
He will race for Russian team SMP where he will drive in a car alongside two Russians, Mikhail Aleshin, who has raced in IndyCar, and Vitaly Petrov, who was in F1.
“I think with those two and the experience we all have from different types of racing and the team’s fantastic experience in endurance racing we have a great chance to fight at the front and fight for the win and I can’t wait to get going,” Button was quoted as saying on the SMP team website.
Button will race the whole WEC programme except for Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium in early May which clashes with the second leg of the Japanese Super GT, where he is also racing.
“As you can imagine it has been a dream of mine to race at Le Mans,” Button said in a video on the SMP website.
At Le Mans Button will compete against former McLaren teammate Fernando Alonso, who is driving a Toyota and hoping to complete the driver’s triple crown of Le Mans, Monaco Grand Prix and Indy 500.
