Australian Daniel Ricciardo was among the pacesetters on Friday in the first free practice session for the Azerbaijan Formula One Grand Prix.
Ricciardo finished second, behind only his Red Bull teammate Max Verstappen.
Championship leader Sebastian Vettel of Ferrari had to be content with third place and his Mercedes title rival Lewis Hamilton, 12 points behind in the standings, was fifth.
Verstappen posted 1 minute 44.410 seconds on the 6.003-kilometre course, with Ricciardo 0.470 off the pace and Vettel trailing by 0.557 seconds.
Hamilton was just over a second back, behind Force India's Sergio Perez, whose crash into the barriers in the old town section led to the session being red-flagged for several minutes. Perez escaped the incident unharmed.
The Red Bulls set their times on the fast super-soft rubbers while Vettel's best lap was on softs.
A second practice is scheduled for later Friday, final practice and qualifying are Saturday, and the race - the eighth of the season - on Sunday.
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