F1 News
Full Azerbaijan GP FP3 results | Russell takes P1 from Leclerc, Norris P3
George Russell just beats Charles Leclerc to P1 in the final free practice session at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, with both of them beating the McLaren of Lando Norris in P3.
In the final few minutes of the session, Russell was able to find the extra pace and set the fastest lap of the session, highlighting the straight-line speed that Mercedes have around the Baku City Circuit and showing that qualifying later in the day will be extremely close to call.
Behind him by just +0.050 seconds was Leclerc in the Ferrari, who has looked very consistent all weekend. The Monegasque driver is searching for his fourth pole position in a row in Baku. Norris, who has been off the pace for the majority of the weekend, finally put a lap together and showed he still has some speed with his McLaren.
Behind Norris was his teammate Oscar Piastri in P4, with Max Verstappen and his updated Red Bull only quick enough for P5 despite his first place in FP1 on Friday. Carlos Sainz and Sergio Perez were P6 and P7, respectively.
Williams had a superb session before qualifying, with Alex Albon fast enough to take eighth place when the chequered flag fell, and it was an equally good session for rookie Franco Colapinto in P9, right behind his teammate. Lewis Hamilton rounded out the top ten.
There were two red flags in what was a stop-start final free practice session, with the Alpine of Esteban Ocon being responsible for the first of them after stopping on track. Rookie Ollie Bearman was the culprit for the second red flag, crashing into turn 1 after going into the corner too quickly.
Full Azerbaijan Grand Prix FP3 results:
