Mercedes driver George Russell headed both practice sessions at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.

The Briton led team-mate Kimi Antonelli by 0.552 seconds in the second session. Red Bull’s Max Verstappen was Russell’s closest rival in the first session, when Antonelli suffered a hydraulic failure.

Antonelli’s reliability problems also meant he missed the first half of the second session, and overall the Italian had half the amount of running of Russell.

Racing Bulls’ Arvid Lindblad had his second crash in consecutive race weekends in practice, clipping the wall on the exit of the tight chicane leading into the section around the castle.

In the context of the day, the margin between the two Mercedes drivers is to be expected but Antonelli is likely to close in on Friday in the run up to qualifying.

Mercedes spent the first half-hour of the second session finishing off the repair to Antonelli’s car, which involved an engine change.

That meant he had to go straight into his performance runs on the soft tyre, having missed set-up and development time at the end of the first hour and the beginning of the second.

Antonelli leads Russell by 81 points in the championship heading into this weekend.

Verstappen was 0.4secs slower than Russell in the first session, and 0.827secs adrift in the second, when he was third fastest behind the two Mercedes drivers.

Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton were next, but more than a second off the pace.

And Lando Norris was sixth fastest, 1.484secs back, in a McLaren with a heavy aerodynamic upgrade.

Alpine’s Pierre Gasly was seventh, ahead of the the second McLaren of Oscar Piastri and Red Bull’s Isack Hadjar, who is fit again after missing three races because of a broken wrist.