Azerbaijan F1 Grand Prix 2018 Qualifying: Results, Times from Friday's Practice

Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo set the pace in the second practice at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix on Friday, edging out Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen.

Ricciardo's time of one minute, 42.795 seconds, put him 0.069 seconds clear of Raikkonen. Red Bull's Max Verstappen rounded off the top three.

Earlier in the day, Mercedes' Valtteri Bottas topped the timesheets in the first practice session with a time of 1:44.242.

It was a testing end to the day for team-mate Lewis Hamilton, as he was a long way off the pace being set by the Red Bulls in FP2. Championship leader Sebastian Vettel was also slow in the Ferrari, finishing 10th and 11th in his two runs.

Read on for a recap of the best of the action from Friday in Azerbaijan, including the standings from both practice sessions.

FP1 Recap

Here is the classification, courtesy of Formula One's official Twitter account:

Bottas and Hamilton were the first to record times in Baku as they started on supersoft tyres. The former was initially quicker, but the latter quickly got out in front as the pair improved their times.

Tyre manufacturer Pirelli Motorsport noted the different strategies in play during the session:

Despite running on the slower compound, Red Bull's Verstappen and Ricciardo soon topped the standings.

The former's session came to a premature end, however, after his rear end got loose:

The lack of grip was an issue for many of the other drivers over the course of the session, too.

Brendon Hartley and Romain Grosjean particularly had trouble keeping their cars on the track, while Fernando Alonso, Marcus Ericsson and Sergey Sirotkin were not immune either.

Bottas claimed the top spot again after changing his tyres, and though he would remain there for the rest of the session, Ricciardo came close after he too made a switch.

FP2 Recap

Here is the classification from the second practice session:

Given the nature of the Baku street circuit, Red Bull were expected to fare well in Azerbaijan. They showed they may be the team to beat this weekend with a strong outing in the later session.

Ricciardo, the victor in China a fortnight ago, is clearly driving with confidence and excelled in the changing conditions throughout the day. 

Mark Thompson/Getty Images

Nestled in behind the Australian was Raikkonen, who was dealing with the conditions much easier than his team-mate, and Verstappen, who shook off his shunt in the morning to find a rhythm in FP2.

At the conclusion of the day, the Dutchman was quick to pay tribute to his engineers, who worked well to get him back on track:

Although Raikkonen bucked the trend and produced an excellent lap to split the Red Bull drivers, the rest of the usual contenders clearly have work to do in qualifying on Saturday. That includes Hamilton, who is already adrift in the race for what'd be his fifth world championship.

As noted by F1 journalist Phil Duncan, Hamilton has a lot of ground to make up on Ricciardo over the next two days:

Commenting on his tough day, Vettel refused to blame any issues with the car and instead took the responsibility himself. 

"This morning I didn't find it, the beginning of the second session I wasn't up to speed, but I was pretty happy with the long run at the end," he said, per Andrew Benson of BBC Sport. "I think it's OK. It is all in me; the car is fine. I didn't get the laps together."