All the talk was about the potential danger of the turns through the old town.

But this was in the wider middle sector - although Turn 15 does narrow quickly.

Red flagpublished at 11:07 British Summer Time 17 June 2016

11:07 BST 17 June 2016

Daniel Ricciardo crashes.

Crunch.

Coincidentally, just as we're treated to a live feed of Daniel Ricciardio's cockpit, the Australian comes out of turn 15 and bangs into the wall.

He comes out of the left-hander too wide and hits the wall on the right. His rear right wheel comes loose and he's told to sit on the track and wait for instructions.

you can see Turn Three on the graphic above - I'd call it a right angle, but I guess it's a left angle.

Turns Seven to 12 are where they snake through the medieval town and through the streets that look like they should be lined with souks.

Damage. They were a musical act. They still might be. Who knows?

Anyway, I do the jokes around here Mercedes.

Image source, .

Not content with kissing the wall with one wheel, Lewis Hamilton comes back round and plants two wheels into the same wall.

"Yup. I hot a wall guys," he says on the radio.

He trudges into the run-off area for a bit of all deja vu all over again.

I fear we are entering a heavy geo-political debate that I am way too under-educated too engage in. I'm from Birmingham - I'm pretty sure that's in Europe.

yung kris: Some stupid comments on the practice live feed. Azerbaijan IS in Europe! Widen your horizons. Oh, and do your research. Great track!

Sean Harrison: Maybe they could have a GP somewhere like Imola or Donington & call it the Asian Grand Prix?

Paul Brooks: European GP - Isle of Man. They already have a street circuit

Lewis Hamilton has overrun on Turn Three and is having to perform a three, maybe a four-point turn. Turn Three is a pointy, 90-degree left-hand affair. There's a few of them here.

Looking at the replay, his rear right wheel catches the wall and causes the issue.

The top three remain the same but Fernando Alonso has usurped Sergio Perez in P3.

Image source, Getty Images

A few aesthetic issues creeping into the cars.

Manor's Pascal Wehrlein says "my headrest is loose".

The Baku track is apparently a bit bumpy, so maybe that is causing elements to shudder out of place.

Max Verstappen on BBC Radio 5 live sports extra: "It was leaking a bit of oil but they've found the issue and we can go back out later.

"It's very slippery. There are very tight corners but we are still building up to it.

"Monaco is the same so I don't really care."

Red Bull are busy.

Daniel Ricciardo gets a new rear wing and is heading back out.

Max Verstappen is chatting to his team while engineers work on his naked-looking car. They're trying to sort out a leak - apparently they know what it is.

Image source, Getty Images

Nico Rosberg comes on the radio: "There is something down the back of my seat."

Sounds uncomfortable. Maybe it's the TV remote?

Rosberg is the first Mercedes to register a lap on the super softs - and it's the quickest of the day - 1:46.812.

But here comes Lewis Hamilton - boom. 1:46.489. Quickest.

Stuart Mack: Why not hold the next European GP in South Africa. We take part in the Commonwealth games, surely that's enough?

Paul Karic: If Baku is acceptable then a Bath GP should be doable too! 

A shout out for Sergio Perez - he is up in P4 in his Force India.

Valtteri Bottas said he scoped out the Baku track by going for a run around it this week - I always think the best way of exploring a new city is to slip on a pair of comfy trainers and pound the pavement.

It seems to be working as well.

Although Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg are out and they're on the super softs.

Andrew Benson
Chief F1 writer in Baku

Nico Rosberg has watched what was a 43-point championship lead over team-mate Lewis Hamilton collapse to just nine points in the space of two races. But he insists that has not been a blow to him.

‘I haven’t been counting points,’ he said. ‘Not before and not now. I’ve wanted to win the races. Last couple of races, that didn't work and now I want to win this one. That is the best approach for me to have. To get the best out off my race weekends. So it’s not been  blow to me because I’ve not been thinking in that sense. My results have been a blow, for sure, because I don’t like finishing fifth.’

It was all going quite well for Valtteri Bottas, until he started to see a bit of smoke coming from his engine. Smoke usually means bad things - so he heads to the pits.

Image source, Getty Images