Lewis Hamilton is leading the way at the European Grand Prix as the Mercedes world champion topped the first and second practice sessions in Baku on Friday.

The Brit, who sits just nine points behind teammate Nico Rosberg in the driver rankings, clocked the quickest lap of 1:44.223 in the second practice of the day.

Rosberg was not far behind Hamilton in the timesheet, while Force India's Sergio Perez recorded the third-fastest time around a track that caused problems earlier in the day.

Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo and Toro Rosso's Carlos Sainz suffered crashes in the first session due to a lack of run-off areas at Turns Three, Seven and 15.

However, the second practice was less troublesome, but it was disappointing for Ferrari as Sebastian Vettel was 1.9 seconds slower than Hamilton, and Kimi Raikkonen was 13th fastest.

Second practice standings:

1. Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes)
2. Nico Rosberg (Mercedes)
3. Sergio Perez (Force India)
4. Valtteri Bottas (Williams)
5. Nico Hulkenberg (Force India)
6. Carlos Sainz (Toro Rosso)
7. Max Verstappen (Red Bull)
8. Sebastian Vettel (Ferrari)
9. Jenson Button (McLaren)
10. Daniel Ricciardo (Red Bull)
11. Fernando Alonso (McLaren)
12. Romain Grosjean (Haas)
13. Kimi Raikkonen (Ferrari)
14. Daniil Kvyat (Toro Rosso)
15. Esteban Gutierrez (Haas)
16. Felipe Massa (Williams)
17. Kevin Magnussen (Renault)
18. Rio Haryanto (Manor)
19. Marcus Ericsson (Sauber)
20. Jolyon Palmer (Renault)
21. Pascal Wehrlein (Manor)
22. Felipe Nasr (Sauber)