George Russell leads Kimi Antonelli to Mercedes one-two in second practice at Azerbaijan GP

George Russell continued to improve throughout the second practice session to finish top of the timesheets at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.

The Englishman was flying around the streets of Baku and crossed the line over half a second faster than his championship leading teammate Kimi Antonelli.

Antonelli only managed to get out on the track halfway through the session as Mercedes were still working on his car after he suffered a hydraulics issue in the first session on Friday, and then an engine change.

Russell also set the pace in the first session, highlighting that Mercedes are looking like the team to beat.

Max Verstappen in the Red Bull is the closest rival to the duo after finishing in third, while Ferrari's Charles Leclerc was fourth.

His teammate Lewis Hamilton rounded out the top five and was 1.3 seconds off Russell's pace.

Lando Norris finished sixth in a heavily-upgraded McLaren, with Pierre Gasly in seventh in his Alpine. Norris' teammate Oscar Piastri crossed the line in eighth.

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Racing Bulls' Arvid Lindblad clipped the wall and crashed near the castle section of the track which brought out the red flag, but walked away unharmed.

Shortly afterwards, Oliver Bearman stopped his Haas and reported on the team radio that his "engine broke."

Isack Hadjar, who is back in the cockpit after three races because of a wrist injury, finished in ninth.