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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.
Verstappen crashed in FP1
Max Verstappen has been best known for collisions this season, and the Red Bull driver crashed again in the first practice but recovered to post the third-fastest time in the second session. However, he limped back to the pits at the end of the day with apparent engine issues.
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.
As it happened: Azerbaijan GP - 2nd Practice
Fernando Alonso managed a rare sixth place for McLaren.
While numerous cars strayed into the runoff 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.