Hamilton, who had his own brush with the wall in FP1, narrowly beat Leclerc by 0.074s under sunny, hot skies in a session defined by close calls and drivers pushing to the limit.

Norris was the only driver to push too far, striking the wall halfway through the session and damaging his McLaren’s suspension enough to end his running early.

His teammate Oscar Piastri also had several brushes with the wall, though nowhere near as severe.

Piastri’s session was further complicated by a potential infringement by failing to slow under yellow flags during the session, which stewards will investigate later.

After topping FP1, the McLaren pair managed only 10th and 12th in FP2, with Norris once again narrowly ahead of Piastri.

Leclerc, aiming for a fifth consecutive Baku pole, also pushed the limits, spinning late in the Turn 4 run-off but avoiding the wall.

Other drivers flirting with trouble — either hitting the wall or running deep into run-off areas — included Liam Lawson, Franco Colapinto, Oliver Bearman, and George Russell.

Despite a brief wall clip and recovering from illness that forced him to miss Thursday media duties, Russell maintained solid pace in his Mercedes, finishing third, 0.477s behind Hamilton. He edged teammate Kimi Antonelli, while Bearman claimed fifth despite his off.

Max Verstappen took sixth, narrowly ahead of Lawson, who was just 0.057s back, giving him a boost of confidence for the weekend.

Esteban Ocon made it two Haas cars in the top ten after improving on FP1 pace to finish eighth, while Alex Albon once again finished in the top ten in ninth.

Carlos Sainz split the McLarens in 11th, with Isack Hadjar just ahead of teammate Yuki Tsunoda in 13th.

As in FP1, the bottom six were dominated by three teams, with Sauber joining Aston Martin and Alpine at the lower end of the timesheets.

Gabriel Bortoleto finished 15th ahead of Pierre Gasly and Lance Stroll, while teammate Nico Hulkenberg ended 18th, ahead of Fernando Alonso and Franco Colapinto.

With changeable conditions expected for the rest of the weekend, there is plenty more action to come from Baku. Cars return for FP3 at 12.30pm local time Saturday (6.30pm AEST).