Report: Thursday practice complete on dusty Baku streets
Alex Albon and Carlos Sainz completed 97 laps between them on Thursday as the team get to grips with an updated FW48 package
Published
24 SEP 2026
Est. reading time
2 min
The 2026 Azerbaijan Grand Prix weekend is underway, and the team are busy poring over the data gathered on our updated package after almost a century of laps recorded across FP1 and FP2.
Both cars started the weekend on hard tyres, with Alex Albon finding significant time early on to move up to a provisional P8. Carlos had to return to the pits with a radio issue, while high brake temperatures briefly saw his car alight in the pit box.
A Virtual Safety Car followed shortly after when Kimi Antonelli stopped at Turn 7, before both drivers switched to softs and continued working through the pace, trading places with one another as the times tumbled.
Carlos briefly moved ahead of his teammate before Alex found more time of his own, and a second Virtual Safety Car – this time for Arvid Lindblad and Nico Hulkenberg, who both stopped in different areas of the track – interrupted the closing stages. Carlos ended the opening hour in P12 with a 1:46.893, with Alex P13 after a 1:46.939.
The second session began with both drivers on mediums for the first time this weekend, gradually working their way up the order before a red flag was flown when Lindblad clattered the barrier through the tight castle section.
Once running resumed, both drivers switched to softs for qualifying-simulation work, though Alex had to back off one attempt after finding a slow-moving Alpine through the narrow Turn 8.
Both would abort their final quali-sim laps while up on their previous bests, turning the cars around for a short race-simulation programme to close out the day.
As a result, Alex was classified P16 following a 1:46.123, with Carlos in P17 thanks to a 1:46.221.
With 53 laps for Alex and 44 for Carlos across the day, Friday was a productive step in learning the updated package ahead of a busy weekend in Baku.
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