Piastri suffers mechanical issue in FP1 as red flag also comes out

The championship leader was only able to get five minutes of running done around the Baku City Circuit before he was urged back to the garage by his team.

"Avoid low revs," was the message to the Australian from race engineer Tom Stallard.

On arriving at his garage, Piastri hopped out of the car and took off his helmet, indicating that plenty of work would be done to his McLaren throughout the rest of the session.

However, fine work done by the McLaren engineers meant Piastri returned to the session. The team identified the issue with the power unit, and the Australian could continue driving afterward.

Just ten minutes later, the first red flag of the weekend was also brought out.

Carlos Sainz's Williams saw some debris from the rear of his car come off and lie on the racing line, resulting in the red flag coming out and bringing drivers back to their garages.