Verstappen fastest in Baku as tow drops quali clue and Stroll crashes

Max Verstappen put an end to George Russell’s run of practice P1s in Baku as he put in a late lap to beat the Mercedes driver by a tenth of a second.

Verstappen clocked a 1:43.922 to finish ahead of Russell, with Lewis Hamilton third fastest.

Max Verstappen leads George Russell in Azerbaijan GP FP3

It was a quiet start to Friday’s practice as the drivers were in no rush to get out onto the track. While some drivers were sitting in their cars, Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton were late arrivals to their respective garages.

Pierre Gasly broke the silence after four minutes to cross the line with a 1:50.582, seven seconds slower than Thursday’s P1 time that was set by George Russell.

With Gasly having cleared a bit of the dust off the track, his rivals trickled out of the pit lane. However, only six drivers, with Gasly still in P1 having lowered the benchmark to a 1:47.714, set times in the first 15 minutes of the session.

Arvid Lindblad got it wrong at Turn 16 before his teammate Liam Lawson went in too hot at Turn 1. Lawson went second quickest behind Gasly.

But it was all change when the Ferrari teammates ventured out of the pit lane. Lewis Hamilton went quickest by 1.6s, before Leclerc pulled six-tenths clear of his teammate. The Monegasque driver posted a 1:45.564 as his opening gambit.

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Out on his first flying lap, Kimi Antonelli told Mercedes he felt his “first gust of the day” and was told by his race engineer Peter Bonnington that it was “50kph”.

Max Verstappen grabbed a double slipstream to go quickest by two-tenths ahead of Leclerc, with Antonelli up to fourth. Despite his P1, he reported that his RB22 was “numb” in Turn 16 “with the wind”.

Aston Martin, already facing a 45-place grid penalty between the two drivers, suffered another blow as Lance Stroll clipped the wall and damaged his AMR26. He was told to “stop the car” and did so at Turn 4.

Hamilton had a lock-up into Turn 1, while Verstappen went off at Turn 15. He told Red Bull: “If for once this **** car wouldn’t jump like a kangaroo… my God!” Oscar Piastri reported “low confidence” with his McLaren moving around.

Thursday’s pace-setter George Russell went quickest on the medium Pirelli tyres with a 1:44.715, a tenth up on Charles Leclerc, who was on the soft rubber. Antonelli was up to third.

The drivers swapped to the soft tyres for qualifying simulations with 20 minutes remaining. Russell immediately extended his advantage with a 1:44.177. Antonelli moved up second place, but he was six-tenths down on his teammate.

There were problems at Ferrari with Hamilton out of his car as Ferrari worked on his front left brake and bargeboard.

Russell went on to shave a further tenth off his P1 time. Antonelli also improved to close the gap to a quarter of a second. But it was not enough to stop Verstappen from splitting the teammates in second place.

Russell had a close encounter with the Turn 7 run-off area barrier as he got it wrong and ended up with his front wing just centimetres away from the barrier. Antonelli then went off at Turn 1.

Hamilton was able to rejoin the action with seven minutes remaining. Hamilton improved to fifth on his qualifying simulation.

Carlos Sainz and Pierre Gasly were both noted by the stewards, with Sainz to be investigated after the session.

Verstappen put in a late 1:43.922 to finish the session quickest of all by a tenth ahead of Russell. Hamilton jumped up to third place with the top three separated by 0.111s.

Azerbaijan Grand Prix: FP3 Top Ten

1 Max Verstappen Red Bull 1:43.922
2 George Russell Mercedes 1:44.021
3 Lewis Hamilton Ferrari 1:44.033
4 Kimi Antonelli Mercedes 1:44.273
5 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:44.544
6 Pierre Gasly Alpine 1:44.637
7 Oscar Piastri McLaren 1:44.746
8 Lando Norris McLaren 1:44.899
9 Isack Hadjar Red Bull 1:45.176
10 Franco Colapinto 1:45.592

The full results from FP3 at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix

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