DANIEL RICCIARDO continued his impressive form by soaring to the top of the time sheets in second practice for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix today.

Ricciardo delivered an overtaking masterclass in China a fortnight ago to take the chequered flag, and the Red Bull driver appears in good shape this weekend.

However defending champion Lewis Hamilton’s slow start to the season showed little signs of easing after his best lap was good enough for only fifth in the order.

Hamilton will head into Sunday’s race on the streets of Azerbaijan’s capital city Baku without a victory from the opening three rubbers, and he was off the pace once more here yesterday.

The 33-year-old Englishman finished a worrying eight-tenths of a second adrift of Ricciardo, and he was again slower than his Mercedes teammate Valtteri Bottas, who was one spot ahead.

Sebastian Vettel, who leads Hamilton in the championship by nine points, had to settle for only 11th, with the German mysteriously way down the order in both sessions.

Vettel’s teammate Kimi Raikkonen was second, seven-hundredths of a second adrift of Ricciardo, with Max Verstappen third.

Verstappen missed the majority of the opening session at the Baku City Circuit after he lost control of his Red Bull and crashed into the barriers.

The 20-year-old Dutchman, who arrived here under pressure following a series of high-profile collisions, vowed to recover from his error-prone campaign by driving faster than ever.

But he thudded into the barriers at turn six in the day’s opening running after he came unstuck under braking at a circuit where virtually every mistake is punished.