Lewis Hamilton on top after practice double at European Grand Prix

Lewis Hamilton proved he is the man to beat on Formula One's first visit to Azerbaijan after completing a practice double at the Baku Street Circuit on Friday. The triple world champion, who chose not to walk the track on Thursday and completed only a handful of laps on the simulator, was nearly four-tenths of a second clear of his Mercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg in the opening session before later extending that advantage to almost seven-tenths after posting a best lap of one minute and 44.223 seconds. Rosberg's day then took a turn for the worse after he reported a problem with his Mercedes, and was told to stop his car on track with 20 minutes of the afternoon session remaining. Formula One is making its first foray to the oil-rich state, and the opening day of action on the streets of Baku, its capital city, did not come without incident. Indeed the second 90-minute practice session for the European Grand Prix was thrown into doubt after qualifying for GP2 - Formula One's feeder series - was abandoned due to safety concerns with the kerbing at turns six and 12. FIA officials, including race director Charlie Whiting, spent the two-and-a-half hour period in between Friday's...

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