2024 Azerbaijan Grand Prix – Free Practice 3 F1 results (Baku)

Thomas Maher 14 Sep 2024 10:37 AM

George Russell, Mercedes, 2024 Azerbaijan Grand Prix.

George Russell went quickest of all in final practice at the 2024 Azerbaijan Grand Prix.

Here are the complete F1 results from the final practice session in Baku, ahead of this weekend’s Azerbaijan Grand Prix.

George Russell was quickest man of all in third practice in Baku, with the Mercedes man just a few hundredths clear of Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc.

George Russell comes out on top of frantic third practice session in Baku

Like Friday’s stop/start practice, there were two red flags during the final practice session. Alpine’s Esteban Ocon came to a halt out on track with a technical issue, while Haas debutant Oliver Bearman smacked the barriers at Turn 1.

The British driver, called up to replace the banned Kevin Magnussen, turned in with too much speed into the 90-degree left-hander and tried to abort mid-corner to turn away into the escape area. But the attempt to back out came slightly too late, and he clouted the barrier with his left front corner to shear off the wheel and leave himself stranded.

After that short red flag stoppage, the drivers came out to tackle their qualifying simulations as the times rapidly dropped down into the 1:43s.

Williams’ Alex Albon, enjoying a mammoth tow down the main straight from Mercedes’ George Russell, went to the top with a 1:43.5, before being pipped by Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc while Red Bull’s Max Verstappen slotted in directly behind the Monegasque.

But, as had been the case on Friday, Sergio Perez continued to show the stronger of the two Red Bulls as he went fastest of all – only to be beaten by a tremendous effort from McLaren’s Oscar Piastri.

The Australian did a 1:42.7 to go six-tenths clear of Perez, but the improvements on the next runs saw Leclerc dip down to a 1:42.5 to go quickest.

After a very quiet session for the first 55 minutes, Lando Norris joined in at the front with five minutes to go as the McLaren driver slotted in directly behind Leclerc with a time 0.173 down on the Ferrari.

But, despite having spent most of his hour complaining about the feeling of his Mercedes – both in terms of the power unit and the ride height – Russell went quickest of all just as the chequered flag came out as the British driver set a 1:42.514 to go 0.013 clear of Leclerc in second.

Norris finished third ahead of Piastri, an encouraging result for the championship challenger after being quite dejected after Friday’s practice sessions, while championship leader Max Verstappen finished fifth ahead of Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz, Perez in seventh, Albon in eighth, Franco Colapinto in ninth for Williams, and Lewis Hamilton rounding out the top 10 for Mercedes.

Full Report: Azerbaijan GP: George Russell bounces back as Oliver Bearman bins it in FP3