George Russell has better opening day in Baku than Mercedes teammate Kimi Antonelli

Russell set the pace in FP1 on the Soft tyre, finishing four tenths clear of Max Verstappen, before repeating the feat in FP2. Antonelli’s opening session ended after only nine laps following a loss of hydraulic pressure, leaving the Formula 1 championship leader on the back foot.

Mercedes changed Antonelli’s power unit as a precaution between sessions, delaying his start to FP2. Even so, the Italian recovered strongly to finish second, 0.552s behind Russell and complete a Mercedes one-two.

The afternoon session was briefly interrupted after Arvid Lindblad’s incident at Turn 9, but Russell quickly returned to the top during the single-lap work. He then completed his long-run programme on the Medium compound.

For Russell, the clean programme and strong pace were especially welcome after a run of races in which Antonelli has stretched his championship advantage to 81 points.

Russell was encouraged by both Mercedes’ single-lap speed and its longer-run performance against McLaren and Red Bull.

He said: “It's been a positive first day here in Baku. The car felt competitive over a single lap, and our race pace looks closely matched with McLaren and Red Bull. I'm sure those gaps will tighten even further when we get to qualifying tomorrow.

"There's still plenty of work to do overnight. Overall, though, it's been an encouraging start to the weekend and a strong opening day for the team," added Russell who trails his teammate by 81 points ahead of Saturday's Grand Prix.

Antonelli’s day was far less straightforward. His hydraulic issue cost him most of FP1, while the precautionary power unit change further reduced his FP2 running on a street circuit where every lap matters.

The World Championship leader summed up his day: “It was a somewhat compromised day due to the hydraulics issue we encountered, which cost us a significant amount of track time across both FP1 and FP2."

Antonelli continued: "We're still working to understand exactly what caused the problem, but the team did a great job investigating it and, as a precaution, we changed the power unit to get back on track and complete some valuable running.

“Despite the disruption, I felt comfortable in the car from the laps we were able to complete. We focused on maximising every opportunity and recovering as much track time as possible. Losing laps is never ideal, particularly on a street circuit like Baku where confidence builds with every run, but ending the day in P2 was a positive way to recover. The car felt good throughout, and we'll keep working hard to build on that as the weekend progresses.”

Mercedes were encouraged by the W17’s behaviour, although the team cautioned that the gaps were unlikely to reflect the true competitive order. Several rivals left time on the table on their Soft-tyre runs, while Russell completed useful long-run work on the Medium.

It was nevertheless Russell who left the opening day with the cleaner notebook and the headline time. Antonelli’s recovery to P2 limited the damage, but the championship leader has more catching up to do before qualifying.