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Azerbaijan GP
F1 Azerbaijan GP Live Commentary and Updates - FP3 & Qualifying
Saturday's action, including qualifying, ahead of the Formula 1 Azerbaijan Grand Prix in Baku.
F1 returns to the unique Baku Street Circuit for the eighth round of the 2022 championship, the second street event in a row following the Monaco GP.
Sergio Perez was the winner last time out, and now sits only 15 points behind championship leader and team-mate Max Verstappen - as Charles Leclerc remains between them in second in the drivers' standings.
Verstappen will be looking for retribution after his spectacular tyre blowout at last year's Baku race, which cost him victory in Azerbaijan's capital city.
Charles Leclerc topped Friday’s second practice for Ferrari ahead of Perez and Verstappen.
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We are gearing up for qualifying in the evening sun in Baku.
Welcome back to live updates from the Formula 1 Azerbaijan Grand Prix.
Checkered flag
With that, we'll take a breather ahead of F1 qualifying later. This is also a good opportunity to flag Autosport will be running a live text commentary on the Le Mans 24 Hours which gets underway later. The race starts at 3pm BST.
Breaking news
Here's the full report on final practice:
https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/f1-azerbaijan-gp-perez-pips-leclerc-in-delayed-fp3/10320281/
https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/f1-azerbaijan-gp-perez-pips-leclerc-in-delayed-fp3/10320281/
Practice start time on the grid which rounds out the FP3 action. That session sets up qualifying with plenty of intrigue in the Ferrari vs Red Bull fight at the front.
Both McLarens made a late dart up the timesheet too, with Norris taking fifth and Ricciardo taking sixth, which will given the Woking-based team a timely confidence boost going into qualifying.
Perez is also on a late flying lap but just misses out on improving his own outright quickest time by a tenth of a second. The Mexican still tops the session from Leclerc and Verstappen.
Checkered flag
Verstappen has to bail out of a flying lap after getting baulked by Alonso, which means his session is over as the chequered flag comes out.
Bottas goes off track again, this time at Turn 2, but avoids any serious problems.
Alonso, with the aid of a huge slipstream from Perez, sets the fastest final sector time despite only going 11th fastest overall. But that shuffles Hamilton back to 12th place on the times.
Yellow flag
Leclerc misjudges his braking at Turn 15 and runs off track, but avoids any further drama to turn his Ferrari around and get going again.
Quote
"Did you turn the engine down?" Hamilton asks over team radio. His Mercedes right-hand man Pete Bonnington confirms they have to protect engine mileage.
Stopwatch
Verstappen improves with a 1m43.240s, 0.279s off Leclerc, but Perez goes top with a 1m43.170s. The Mexican is really gelling with the Red Bull now.
The Finn gets his car facing the right way to get going again which duly gets rid of the yellow flag that robbed the drivers of the chance to improve their lap times.
Yellow flag
Bottas runs on at Turn 3, which brings out the yellow flags with Verstappen lining up a fast lap, and gets stuck in a tight spot in the run-off trying to turn around his Alfa Romeo.
Stopwatch
Leclerc increases his advantage at the top of the times with a 1m43.240s, but loses time in the final sector without the use of a slipstream.
Russell improves to go fifth quickest with a 1m44.573s, beating Gasly, Magnussen and Schumacher who all improved behind him.
That's good news for motorsport fans as it means F1 quali and the Le Mans 24 Hours won't start at the exact same time this afternoon, which is a nice bonus.
Breaking news
The FIA has confirmed F1 qualifying will start 15 minutes later than scheduled due to the delay to final practice. That's due to Article 39 in the regs, which states a two-hour gap must be in place for the end of FP3 and the start of qualifying.
These F1 team run plans in practice sessions must be like Baku buses, you wait for ages for a car on track then they all come out at once. By that we mean we are stalling for time with only Latifi on track.
Ricciardo appears to be having a better day of it so far. On the mediums he is eighth fastest with a 1m46.026s. Add in the gains he'll get from the softs and he'll be on par with the Mercedes drivers with that kind of lap.
Verstappen takes second spot with a 1m43.653s, just 0.139s off Leclerc. He was quicker through the first two sectors than the Ferrari but lost a lot of time in the final sector, the big blast to the finish line.
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Lap times everywhere you look now. Perez splits the Ferraris to go second quickest but is still a third of a second off Leclerc.
Stopwatch
Leclerc follows Sainz's lap with a 1m43.514s to go top by 0.4s.
Stopwatch
Ferrari are cranking up the F1-75, as Sainz goes top again with a 1m44.001s to put four tenths on Perez.
Stopwatch
Verstappen's first timed lap sees him go second fastest with a 1m44.468s - 0.052s off his Red Bull team-mate.
Gasly, with a monster-sized slipstream from Norris ahead, pops into fourth place with a 1m45.507s on the hard tyres. Everyone else has set their best laps on the softs.
Stopwatch
Perez is the latest driver to go quickest with a 1m44.416s to set a new benchmark.
Stopwatch
Leclerc returns to the top with a 1m44.661s, just 0.083s quicker than Sainz. Meanwhile Verstappen heads out for the first time in this session.
Both Mercedes improve, Russell into fourth and Hamilton into fifth, but there's still seven-tenths between the pair.
Stopwatch
Sainz goes fastest with a 1m44.744s, half a second up on Leclerc's earlier effort.
Stopwatch
Perez pops up to second overall with his first timed lap of 1m45.503s on the softs, to go two-tenths off leader Leclerc.
Hamilton puts in a lap seven-tenths of a second slower than his team-mate to go fifth, as his head continues to bounce in the Mercedes cockpit.
Stopwatch
Russell goes second quickest with a 1m46.029s, which will give Mercedes some encouragement after a tough Friday.
Stopwatch
Leclerc trumps that with a 1m45.260s, also on the softs, to go 1.1s quicker than his Ferrari team-mate. Elsewhere, Bottas took a trip into the Turn 1 run-off but was OK to continue.
Stopwatch
Anyway, some actual lap times are being punched in now, with Sainz on the softs going top with a 1m46.457s.
Baku's fortress walls have a close resemblance to Caernarfon in North Wales, with the modern developments constructed under the shadows of the historic building. One for all the castle fans out there.
Russell has the freedom of the Baku circuit and a fresh set of soft tyres to do his thing on.
Mercedes, Aston Martin and Haas are also scrubbing in some tyres with one eye on tomorrow's race. Still no lap times on the board with nine minutes gone.
By: autosport.com
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