Daniel Ricciardo was fastest of all on day one of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, topping the timing sheets at the end FP2 as Red Bull also showed strong race pace during the ninety minutes afternoon session.
The Australian was fastest of all with the best lap time of 1:42.795 was a tenth faster than his teammate Max Verstappen who recovered from a crash earlier in the day.
Red Bull, fresh from their success in China, were looking very strong in all conditions, with Verstappen and Ricciardo also fastest during their race-sim, suggesting that Mercedes and Ferrari are on the back foot or keeping their powder dry for when it matters.
Kimi Raikkonen split the energy drinks duo with the second best time in his Ferrari, which was 1.2 seconds faster than teammate Sebastian Vettel. The Finn changed his setup in the morning session which cost him some track time but he was happier with the car after FP2.
Valtteri Bottas was fastest of the Mercedes brigade albeit three-quarters of a second off Ricciardo's top time. Lewis Hamilton was fifth fastest.
Fernando Alonso managed to extract some handy pace from his McLaren to end sixth fastest, but his teammate did not find the sweet spot and as a result was 1.5 seconds adrift of his teammate in 19th.
Force India appear to have also unlocked some pace since China with both their drivers featuring prominently in FP2, the pair ended the day with Esteban Ocon seventh and Sergio Perez in 12th.
Carlos Sainz, in eighth, was fractionally faster than his Renault teammate Nico Hulkenberg in tenth, with Haas driver Kevin Magnussen splitting the pair in ninth.
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