FREE PRACTICE: Vips beats Boschung to P1 in opening session at Baku

While a lot of the field were still getting to grips with the Baku City Circuit, Jüri Vips was finding its limits, the Hitech Grand Prix racer going more than seven-tenths faster than Campos Racing’s Ralph Boschung and over a second quicker than ART Grand Prix’s Théo Pourchaire to finish Free Practice in first.

Less than two weeks on from the challenges of the tight and twisting Monte Carlo circuit, the class of 2021 were arriving at a different type of street track, tackling the long, wide straights of Baku.

For many, it was a first experience of the Baku City Circuit and they took their time adjusting to the new surroundings. MP Motorsport duo Lirim Zendeli and Richard Verschoor led the field around the streets but were well-off representative times in the opening five minutes.

Ending the session in fifth and sixth, Oscar Piastri and Marcus Armstrong had initially traded fastest times when the tarmac began to warm up. The latter had set the initial standard at 2:00.851, before two incidents on track brought running to a halt.

Marino Sato skidded against the wall and destroyed his front right tyre, while Zendeli went off track and got stuck in the run-off area at Turn 16, bringing out a Virtual Safety Car.

The times tumbled when running resumed as Jack Aitken – who won the 2019 Feature Race in Baku – broke the 2m barrier with a time of 1:57.840. But the HWA RACELAB driver wasn’t at the top for long, as Dan Ticktum shaved 0.115s off his fellow Briton’s laptime to take the lead.

Aitken overstepped the limits and clipped the wall on his next attempt at going fastest, but Boschung had already managed the feat, going first with 1:57.517. Robert Shwarztman briefly stole P1, but the Swiss swiftly regained his advantage, breaking the 1m 57s barrier to retake first. Shwartzman’s attempts to take the lead continued, but the PREMA racer ended the morning in fourth.

With just minutes to go, it looked as if Boschung was in control, but both Pourchaire and Vips suddenly found more time, with the latter taking a tow to go more than a second faster than anyone else. Boschung responded but couldn’t find the time and fell 0.7s short of the Estonian's tour of 1:55.210, settling for second ahead of Pourchaire.

Action was brought to a premature end as Roy Nissany spun and struck the wall. Bringing out a red flag, Nissany clambered out of his DAMS safely, and his crash signalled the end of the session.

Bent Viscaal said ahead of the session that it was “just a matter of time” before he was scoring points, and the Dutchman got off to a great start, running seventh fastest ahead of David Beckmann. Despite his early pace, Ticktum had fallen to P9 by the end of the session, with Christian Lundgaard completing the top 10.