F1 Azerbaijan GP: Verstappen beats Russell and Hamilton to top FP3

Red Bull's Max Verstappen has surprisingly topped third and final practice for Formula 1's Azerbaijan Grand Prix, 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 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 moments later.

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 which 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, damaging his front-left suspension which prompted the Canadian to park the car.

George Russell, Mercedes

Photo by: Liam Fabre

Mercedes, which was ominously quick on Thursday, 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.

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 have likely 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 respectively 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

FP3

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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