Practice report

F1 Azerbaijan GP: Max Verstappen leads George Russell and Lewis Hamilton in final practice

Max Verstappen leads George Russell and Lewis Hamilton into qualifying at Formula 1's Azerbaijan Grand Prix

Red Bull's Max Verstappen surprisingly took the fastest time in third and final practice for F1's Azerbaijan GP, pipping Mercedes driver George Russell and Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton on Baku's tricky street circuit.

Verstappen took command at the very end of the one-hour session as teams switched to qualifying runs, defying Mercedes' favourite status in Baku by catching a big slipstream to go fastest.

FP3, held in less representative conditions than qualifying later on Friday afternoon, got off to a quiet start, with the Alpines leading the early running some way off Thursday's FP2 pace. The big-hitters started flexing their collective muscle 15 minutes into the session with Charles Leclerc's second attempt on softs - yielding a 1m45.564s - demoting Ferrari team-mate Lewis Hamilton's effort.

As drivers tried to hone their slipstreaming timing for qualifying, with the Baku City Circuit's giant 2km straight making a tow a crucial element of a competitive lap, Red Bull's Verstappen lunged to first place only to be deposed by Hamilton's 1m45.093s.

Conditions appeared to be gustier than on Friday as race control deployed a brief virtual safety car for a tree branch which was swept onto the track. The wind also made cars less predictable to drive. Verstappen reported a Red Bull that was "jumping like a kangaroo" before going deep into the Turn 15 runoff, one of several drivers to make good use of Baku's escape roads.

Aston Martin's Lance Stroll was not so lucky as he tagged the wall in Turn 1, which prompted the Canadian to park the car.

Mercedes, which was ominously quick on Friday, started mixing it up at the halfway mark with Antonelli pipping Leclerc by half a tenth courtesy of a 1m45.046s lap, before Russell claimed top spot with a 1m44.715s lap - both on medium tyres rather than softs.

George Russell, Mercedes

Photo by: Sam Bloxham / LAT Images via Getty Images

The Silver Arrows then showed their hands on the softest tyre compound as Russell put down a 1m44.177s marker with 15 minutes to go. As Russell shaved off some time with his subsequent 1m44.021s tour, Antonelli conceded 0.252s to his team-mate.

Verstappen benefitted from a huge slipstream to split the Mercedes cars in second, flattering the real performance of the Red Bull on a weekend set to be dominated by the championship leaders, and the Dutchman ultimately set a 1m43.922s lap to top the session.

Russell could likely have gone quicker still, however, but locked up the fronts into Turn 1 before going straight on in Turn 7, managing to bring the car to a halt without tapping the wall.

With a last-minute effort Hamilton pipped Antonelli to third, followed by Leclerc and Alpine's Pierre Gasly. McLaren's low-profile weekend continued with Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris in seventh and eighth despite the team's upgrades to improve its low-speed cornering.

The returning Isack Hadjar claimed ninth for Red Bull ahead of the second Alpine car of Franco Colapinto.

F1 Azerbaijan GP FP3 Results

All Stats

Cla	Driver	#	Chassis	Engine	Laps	Time	Interval	Tyres	km/h
1	M. Verstappen Red Bull Racing	3	Red Bull	Red Bull	21	1'43.922		S	207.952
2	G. Russell Mercedes	63	Mercedes	Mercedes	21	+0.099 1'44.021	0.099	S	207.754
3	L. Hamilton Ferrari	44	Ferrari	Ferrari	18	+0.111 1'44.033	0.012	S	207.730
4	A. Antonelli Mercedes	12	Mercedes	Mercedes	21	+0.351 1'44.273	0.240	S	207.252
5	C. Leclerc Ferrari	16	Ferrari	Ferrari	22	+0.622 1'44.544	0.271	S	206.714
6	P. Gasly Alpine	10	Alpine	Mercedes	20	+0.715 1'44.637	0.093	S	206.531
7	O. Piastri McLaren	81	McLaren	Mercedes	20	+0.824 1'44.746	0.109	S	206.316
8	L. Norris McLaren	1	McLaren	Mercedes	20	+0.977 1'44.899	0.153	S	206.015
9	I. Hadjar Red Bull Racing	6	Red Bull	Red Bull	22	+1.254 1'45.176	0.277	S	205.472
10	F. Colapinto Alpine	43	Alpine	Mercedes	20	+1.670 1'45.592	0.416	S	204.663
11	C. Sainz Williams	55	Williams	Mercedes	24	+1.683 1'45.605	0.013	S	204.638
12	O. Bearman Haas F1 Team	87	Haas	Ferrari	25	+1.770 1'45.692	0.087	S	204.469
13	G. Bortoleto Audi	5	Audi	Audi	18	+1.932 1'45.854	0.162	S	204.156
14	E. Ocon Haas F1 Team	31	Haas	Ferrari	21	+1.996 1'45.918	0.064	S	204.033
15	N. Hulkenberg Audi	27	Audi	Audi	18	+2.076 1'45.998	0.080	S	203.879
16	S. Perez Cadillac F1 Team	11	Cadillac	Ferrari	19	+2.082 1'46.004	0.006	S	203.867
17	A. Albon Williams	23	Williams	Mercedes	24	+2.154 1'46.076	0.072	S	203.729
18	L. Lawson Racing Bulls	30	RB	Red Bull	23	+2.300 1'46.222	0.146	S	203.449
19	A. Lindblad Racing Bulls	41	RB	Red Bull	22	+2.349 1'46.271	0.049	S	203.355
20	F. Alonso Aston Martin Racing	14	Aston Martin	Honda	19	+2.590 1'46.512	0.241	S	202.895
21	V. Bottas Cadillac F1 Team	77	Cadillac	Ferrari	19	+4.665 1'48.587	2.075	S	199.018
22	L. Stroll Aston Martin Racing	18	Aston Martin	Honda	9	+5.357 1'49.279	0.692	S	197.758
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