The Caspian Ambush: Mercedes Locks Down Baku’s High-Speed Corridor

George Russell and Kimi Antonelli post an emphatic one-two in FP2, leaving Max Verstappen and Ferrari chasing shadows along the Caspian shore.

By Tomás Cleary · Downforce & Divots

If the high-speed labyrinth of Baku City Circuit was expected to expose any lingering post-European vulnerabilities in Brackley’s machinery, Mercedes spent Thursday afternoon…

Trailing Russell by half a second was his teenage stablemate, Kimi Antonelli. Logging a 1:43.

For Red Bull, the response was stubbornly blunt. Max Verstappen banked a 1:44.174 over 23 laps, settling into third on the timing screens nearly eight-tenths adrift of Russell’s…