Verstappen takes charge in third F1 practice session at Baku

Max Verstappen has prevented a Mercedes practice clean sweep after topping FP3 ahead of George Russell and Lewis Hamilton at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.

Verstappen had looked more competitive throughout the hour in a car that appears to have been trimmed of downforce since Thursday practice, though the Dutchman regularly relied on slipstreams from other drivers down the long front straight to keep himself in touch with Mercedes.

His best time, however – set on the eighth lap of his soft-tire stint – came without significant straight-line-speed assistance, with the Dutchman in fact failing to post a personal best time in the final split.

Personal best first and second sectors – though neither was purple – were enough for a session-best time of 1m 43.922s, pipping Russell by just 0.099s.

The late stunner came despite challenging gusty conditions, with a forecast maximum wind speed of 25mph and reported gusts of around 30mph. A tailwind through parts of the middle sector and into Turn 16 in particular made keeping on track tricky, and Verstappen took to the Turn 15 run-off several times through the session, including before and after setting his best time.

Russell had looked comfortably in charge of the hour before Verstappen’s late stunner and slotted into second with a purple middle sector, though he too found himself off the road multiple times, apparently due to errant gusts whistling through the streets.

Lewis Hamilton completed the top three with his final lap and with a powerful slipstream that delivered him an equal-highest top speed of 320kph at the speed trap, enough to put him only 0.111s off Verstappen’s pace.

Kimi Antonelli was fourth and 0.351s ahead of Charles Leclerc, who was almost 0.3s further back.

Pierre Gasly, his Mercedes engine purring, was quickest in the final sector to slot into sixth, 0.715s off the pace. His Alpine was fast enough to separate McLaren from the leading three teams, with Oscar Piastri leading Lando Norris in seventh and eighth, 0.824s and 0.977s off the pace respectively.

Piastri in particular appeared put off by the windy conditions. “Very low confidence in Turn 1,” he said early. “Very unpredictable. Everywhere else feels more or less okay.”

Isack Hadjar’s final flying lap was compromised by traffic, leaving him ninth and 1.254s off his session-topping teammate’s pace, while Franco Colapinto completed the top 10 for Alpine another 0.4s adrift.

Carlos Sainz was 11th for Williams ahead of Oliver Bearman, Gabriel Bortoleto, Esteban Ocon and Nico Hülkenberg.

Sergio Perez was 16th in the lead Cadillac, ahead of Alex Albon and Racing Bulls teammates Liam Lawson and Arvid Lindblad.

Fernando Alonso was 20th ahead of Valtteri Bottas, while Lance Stroll retired from the session after breaking his front-left suspension clipping the Turn 1 apex after just nine laps.