AZERBAIJAN GP – George Russell tops competitive third practice going a hundredth faster than Charles Leclerc
George Russell was fastest in a competitive third practice ahead of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, in the closing moments of the session the Mercedes driver set a 42.514 putting himself just over a hundredth ahead of Charles Leclerc.
Mercedes had looked to be on the backfoot on Friday and that appeared to continue in the early part of the session, before he vaulted the team into the mix in the closing moments with a brilliant final sector. Leclerc had shown good progress throughout the session and managed to sit on top of the order after beating an impressive lap from Oscar Piastri later in the session, but the Ferrari driver’s lap was beaten by Russell’s effort.
Lando Norris put his McLaren third as he went a hundredth faster than teammate Piastri, it was a much stronger session for the team who looked to struggle to find the pace on Friday. But McLaren looked a lot faster than the Red Bull of Max Verstappen who was a tenth behind Piastri.
However, it remains unclear how much the teams are holding back going into qualifying because Baku is a high-speed street circuit and like Monza qualifying can be very competitive and close. But we could see Mercedes, Red Bull, Ferrari and McLaren in the mix this afternoon
Though the traffic issues are not as key many will be searching for the tow on the long straight in sector three. Verstappen looked more settled as he put his Red Bull fifth, but he still looked to be lacking pace as he was just over a tenth behind the McLaren. Carlos Sainz split the two Red Bulls he was just over a tenth off the Dutchman, and ahead of Sergio Perez.
Both Williams have had a decent weekend and that continued in final practice, Alex Albon eighth just half a second off Perez and ahead of teammate Franco Colapinto by nearly half a tenth. Lewis Hamilton was the one missing from the top four teams having been shuffled down to tenth as drivers completed their final attempts, but it looked to be a poor attempt or an aborted one as he was nearly eight-tenths off Russell.
Fernando Alonso missed out on the top ten by nearly two-tenths as Aston Martin continued to struggle for pace, they were spilt by the RB of Yuki Tsunoda who was seven hundredths faster than Lance Stroll. While Daniel Ricciardo was three-tenths behind the Canadian.
But it wasn’t a trouble-free Saturday lunchtime, Ollie Bearman standing in for the banned Kevin Magnussen ahead of his full-time debut in Melbourne in March for Haas, crashed the car. The Haas driver took too much speed into Lewis Corner (Turn One) and couldn’t bail out breaking his front suspension and wing.
Also bringing out the red flag was Esteban Ocon who ground to a halt in his Alpine, a team who have struggled for both pace and reliability so far this weekend. His teammate Pierre Gasly was fifteenth ahead of Nico Hulkenberg by almost three-tenths. While the Saubers completed the times, Valtteri Bottas seven tenths ahead of Guanyu Zhou.