FP3: Russell leads Leclerc and Norris in final Baku practice as Bearman crashes

George Russell put Mercedes at the top of the times during third and final practice for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, finishing ahead of Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc and McLaren’s Lando Norris in a session interrupted by further red flags – including a crash for Ollie Bearman.

After bright and warm weather conditions in FP1 and FP2, the drivers were greeted by clouds and drizzle in the build-up to FP3, only adding to the grip-related challenge on a Baku City Circuit that has been particularly dusty and slippery so far this weekend.

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Slick tyres were still in order when the green light switched on at the end of the pit lane, with drivers taking their time to get back up to speed as double Azerbaijan winner Perez reported “it feels a little bit damp” – the positive being that wind levels had dropped overnight.

As such, it was a relatively quiet start to the session while the field waited on track improvements, but it did not take long for drama to strike when more cars ventured out due to Esteban Ocon’s Alpine hitting trouble and grinding to a halt in the final sector.

Ocon, who endured a disrupted Friday after taking on a new power unit between practice sessions, lamented over the radio that “I don’t think I can make it” to the pits before parking up, forcing Race Control to throw a red flag given the tight confines of the circuit.

A flurry of activity when the session resumed – amid further spots of rain – brought the first lap times of the day, with Alex Albon and Franco Colapinto briefly forming a Williams one-two over Max Verstappen’s Red Bull and Carlos Sainz’s Ferrari.

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Another batch of laps saw Oscar Piastri and Nico Hulkenberg slot between the Williams cars, while Ferrari pair Sainz and Leclerc also looked set to make gains until Haas newcomer Bearman misjudged his entry to Turn 1 and hit the barriers – bringing out a second red flag.

The sophomore F2 racer, who had gone into the corner too hot and tried to take to the escape road, only to rip the front-left off his car, swore several times on the radio as he said “I’m such an idiot” and “I’m so sorry” for the damage caused.

The session resumed with around 20 minutes left on the clock, leading to further soft-tyre running and Piastri taking over at the top via an eye-catching time of 1m 42.749s, putting him more than half a second clear of Perez and FP2 pace-setter Leclerc.

Leclerc was not finished there, though, navigating on-and-off yellow flag zones to bring the benchmark down to a 1m 42.564s, while Norris pipped Piastri for second, Verstappen slotted into fourth and Russell rose to fifth, despite further power unit complaints and balance issues.

Russell would trigger one last change to P1 in the closing moments with a rapid run to the chequered flag, posting a 1m 42.514s to finish a few thousandths clear of Leclerc, who also made another marginal improvement, as the McLarens dropped to third and fourth.

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Verstappen rounded out the top five as the lead Red Bull driver, in front of Sainz and Perez, who were involved in another incident at the end of the session when the Ferrari appeared to be hindered at Turn 15, while Williams duo Albon and Colapinto placed a very encouraging P8 and P9.

Lewis Hamilton was 10th in the other Mercedes, followed by the Aston Martin and RB machines of Fernando Alonso, Yuki Tsunoda, Lance Stroll and Daniel Ricciardo, and the remaining Alpine and Haas cars of Pierre Gasly and Hulkenberg.

Kick Sauber drivers Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu wound up 17th and 18th respectively, from the sidelined Ocon and Bearman, with attention now turning to qualifying at 1600 local time later this afternoon.