2026 Formula 1 Azerbaijan GP
F1 Azerbaijan GP: Follow FP3 in Baku with live timing
Follow along for updates from the Azerbaijan Grand Prix's Saturday practice session
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That's all from us until qualifying - join us again then!
And that's it for FP3! Gasly worked his way up to sixth, while Perez dobs in Lindblad for cutting the track and passing he and Bearman.
Verstappen, Russell, Hamilton, Antonelli, and Leclerc your top five.
Leclerc is the next driver to lock up at Turn 7, while Piastri improves to fifth with a tow off the Ferrari drivr.
Hamilton's on a lap, close to Verstappen in the first sector, but half a second off by the end of the second.
Verstappen goes off at Turn 15, while Hamilton gets a triple-tow and moves up to third - 0.111s off Verstappen's best effort.
Gasly gets up to ninth with a tow, while Colapinto gets up to 10th with a tow off his team-mate. Sainz then splits the Alpine pair.
Hamilton then gets up to fifth, 0.768s off Russell - but Verstappen then goes quickest, a 1m43.922s as he finds loads of time in that middle sector.
A light tow off Leclerc helps on the straight, but it's not as huge as the one off Lawson earlier.
In the interests of parity, Antonelli also locks up at Turn 1.
Verstappen has another tow, off Bortoleto and Norris. He improves slightly, but remains second and a tenth behind Russell.
Piastri has a snap at Turn 7, keeps it out of the wall, and then regroups for Turn 8. It's not easy out there!
Russell has a big lock-up, and also picks up a plastic bag for his efforts. Hulkenberg also does the same T1 lock-up.
Verstappen gets a big tow off Lawson and is up to second, 0.141s off Russell, while Leclerc improves - but stays fourth. Norris gets up to fifth.
Russell's had another lock-up, this time at Turn 7.
Verstappen improves but he's still 0.991s off Russell, but the Briton seems to be going quicker - and indeed, does a 1m44.021s to raise the bar further.
Antonelli gets closer with a 1m44.273s, so that's a 0.252s gap.
Piastri moves up to fourth, 0.948s off.
Fresh softs for Russell, Antonelli, Verstappen, and Hadjar - so we are getting some quick laps.
Russell sets a 1m44.177s to go quickest, 0.620s quicker than Antonelli's follow-up. Advantage Russell.
A few drivers bailing on laps to pull into the pitlane now - perhaps we'll see a bit more experimentation on the soft compound for the final 20 minutes of the session.
It's currently Russell from Leclerc, Antonelli, Hamilton, Verstappen, Hadjar, Piastri, Norris, Bearman, and Gasly in the top 10.
Hadjar moves up to sixth, while Leclerc and Albon have a couple of off-moments.
Piastri complains about "very low confidence" into Turn 1, so it seems like everyone's having issues with the wind. Gust is super-effective here.
Stroll hit the wall at Turn 1, which explains his stop later in the lap.
Verstappen complains that "If for once this car wouldn't jump like a kangaroo...my god", while Antonelli is forced to do his own run-off pirouette.
Antonelli posts a 1m45.046s, moving ahead of the Ferrari pair to go top. A no-tow lap costs Norris about 0.7s to Antonelli.
Russell gets a 1m44.715s, with Leclerc second by 0.162s.
Verstappen goes deep at Turn 15, jabs the throttle and gets the perfect pirouette again.
Norris doesn't get much of a tow and is 0.3s slower than Piastri.
Verstappen reports the car is numb at Turn 16, where a crosswind becomes a tailwind and puts the car through aero conditions that it's not built for.
Leclerc's back up to second, so we're currently up to a Ferrari 1-2. Stroll is off at Turn 4, and he's peeled off the road by Sahil Park.
Antonelli and Russell have set their first times of the day, initially third and fourth, behind the Ferrari pair. The Italian reports "first gust of the day" as he gets a bit of a slide through Turn 16. Pete Bonnington tells him it's a 50kph tailwind.
Verstappen gets a monster slipstream to get a 1m45.329s to go quickest. But Hamilton then moves ahead, with a 1m45.093s.
Piastri eats a tow from Hadjar to get up to fourth.
Leclerc backed out of a lap and has gone again, while Hamilton posts a 1m46.168s to go quickest.
However, Leclerc's second effort is a 1m45.564s, which takes him to the top this time.
Lawson moved up to third briefly, before Verstappen moved ahead...but Hulkenberg then drops ahead of last weekend's Red Bull duo.
Gasly brings the marker down to a 1m47.714s, with Lawson moving up to second on a set of softs - which he's already locked up on.
Albon, Hulkenberg, and Bearman form the rest of the top five, but the big-hitters are now starting to flood the track.
Norris needs to pit for a change, as McLaren is still not happy with something.
We're down to a 1m48.295s thanks to Gasly. A VSC pops out with a "track surface slippery" warning, but it's very quickly cleared.
The Williams pair hits the track, as do the two grid-penalty-encumbered Aston Martins.
Gasly opens the session with a 1m50.582s, which is not particularly quick but the circuit is somewhat "green" at the moment. Colapinto does a time in the 1m51s.
Everyone else was content to let the Alpine pair continue to road-sweep, but we've now got Bottas, Lindblad, Bearman, and Lawson on the road.
Pierre Gasly breaks the deadlock, and there's a lot of leaves to clear as the wind has rather covered the circuit in a layer of dust, debris, etc.
Colapinto joins him to help sweep the circuit.
FP3 open for business!
...but we don't have any takers at the moment. All quiet so far.
They call Baku "The City of Winds" - and it seems like the wind has picked up a bit more today, so that's another element to consider.
It was relatively serene yesterday, so a few gusts might change the drivers' references...
What did we learn from Thursday?
It was a pretty inconclusive day, aside from George Russell's good turn of pace on the opening day of running.
Regardless, we've crunched the numbers to see who's looking good and who's struggling...
FP3 coming up!
Good morning, and welcome to our live coverage of FP3 at the Baku Street Circuit!
It's the final opportunity for the teams to tie up any loose ends with set-up and try some qualifying prep - all without a last minute shunt.
But we know how Baku can be...
Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari,Valtteri Bottas, Cadillac Racing
Photo by: Liam Fabre
