Norris back on top in final Baku practice

Lando Norris reasserted control at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix with the fastest time of a frenetic final practice in Baku.

Morning rain ensured the track started greener than it had been on Friday, and lap times tumbled throughout the hour as the city streets gripped up. That was the case despite the presumed fragility of Pirelli’s soft C6 compound, which on Friday appeared too delicate to set consecutive competitive laps.

Control of top spot rotated between McLaren, Ferrari and Red Bull Racing as drivers completed multiple runs on their opening set of softs, but Norris needed only one lap with his final set of fresh tires to set the pace, a welcome change for the Briton after his scrappy Friday performance. His lap of 1m 41.223s was only fractionally faster than Friday’s best, set by Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton, but it proved uncatchable in the blustery conditions of early Saturday afternoon.

Max Verstappen got closest after having ended the first runs fastest, but the Dutchman was 0.222s off the pace by the end of the hour.

Oscar Piastri put the second McLaren third, but the title leader was 0.254s slower than his teammate.

Piastri session wasn’t as tidy as Norris’s, with the Australian needing three attempts just to get a time on the board with his final set of softs. His first lap was spoiled by a big snap of oversteer at Turn 4 that forced him to abandon the effort. He then gave up on his second lap after running deep and into the run-off zone at the first turn.

His third attempt on the same set of tires would have been good enough for fourth in the final order, but small improvements on his fourth flying lap bumped him up to third. That final attempt, however, left time on the table in the middle split, where he failed to set even a second best — unsurprising given the age of his tires through the twistiest part of the track — and in the final sector, where he had to back off as he crossed the finish line owing to yellow flags at Turn 1.

Lewis Hamilton, Friday’s fastest man, was fourth and only 0.022s slower than Norris. He headed Mercedes teammates Andrea Kimi Antonelli and George Russell, though the German marque was further adrift of the pace, the drivers, 0.653s and 0.741s down on the benchmark.

Alex Albon was the midfield leader in seventh at 0.76s off the pace, leading Haas driver Oliver Bearman and the Racing Bulls car of Liam Lawson after the Kiwi executed a perfect 360 spin after being blown off course at Turn 16.

Charles Leclerc completed the top 10 at 0.986s off the pace, though the Monegasque’s best lap with his final set of tires was spoiled by a bad middle sector.

Leclerc, a four-time Baku pole-getter, was arguably lucky to make it to the end of the session in the first place after knocking the outside wall on entry to Turn 7. He was immediately cleared of a puncture, but he returned to pit lane afterwards to verify that no damage had been done to his front-left suspension.

Isack Hadjar was 11th ahead of Nico Hulkenberg, Carlos Sainz, Fernando Alonso, Franco Colapinto and Yuki Tsunoda, whose final flying lap was hampered by traffic.

Esteban Ocon was 17th ahead of Gabriel Bortoleto, Pierre Gasly and Lance Stroll.

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