Russell pips Leclerc in final practice as Bearman’s session ends in barriers · RaceFans

George Russell put Mercedes at the top of the times for the final practice session for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, just ahead of Charles Leclerc.

Russell’s best time of 1’42.514 was just 0.013s quicker than the Ferrari drivers with the two McLarens of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri behind them.

Haas rookie Oliver Bearman’s session ended early on as he crashed out of the session in the barriers at turn one on his first flying lap of the day.

It was a very slow start to the final hour of practice ahead of qualifying. Only a handful of drivers took to the track when practice begin, including the two Red Bulls of Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez, to scrub a set of soft tyres. Perez reported that the track was slightly damp, with small drops of rain visible on his visor.

Before any driver had completed a representative time, the session was stopped by a red flag when Esteban Ocon was forced to stop his Alpine on track at the exit of turn 16 with an apparent ERS problem. It was the second major technical problem Ocon has experienced over the three practice sessions.

When the session resumed, Oscar Piastri reported “very light drops” of rain, but it was not enough to significantly affect grip on the circuit. Verstappen went fastest of all after the first runs for the top teams, before Alexander Albon blitzed Verstappen’s time by eight tenths of a second to to fastest for Williams.

Bearman’s solid start to his second grand prix weekend hit a snag when he made a mistake under braking for the first corner on his first flying lap. Although he tried to bail out into the escape road, Bearman was unable to avoid barrier and broke his left-front suspension, bringing out the red flags for the second time.

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Drivers had the luxury of an uninterrupted final 20 minutes of practice, with most drivers finding improvements on their best times. Despite complaining about an uncomfortable feeling with his power unit, Russell was able to post the best time of the weekend with a 1’42.514.

At the end of the session, Leclerc was closest to the Mercedes, by just 0.013s. However, the Ferrari driver was unhappy with his best lap, despite being quicker than both McLarens of Norris and Piastri behind. Verstappen was fifth-fastest, three tenths slower than Russell, after appearing to attempt a dress rehearsal of a slipstream from team mate Perez for qualifying at the end of the session.

Carlos Sainz Jnr and Perez were sixth and seventh and will both be meeting with the stewards together for the second time in 24 hours after Perez is alleged to have impeded the Ferrari into the tricky turn 15. The two Williams of Albon and Franco Colapinto were inside the top ten, with Lewis Hamilton completing the top ten.

2024 Azerbaijan Grand Prix third practice result

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2024 Azerbaijan Grand Prix combined practice times

P.	#	Driver	Team	FP1 time	FP2 time	FP3 time	Gap	Laps
1	63	George Russell	Mercedes	1’46.516	1’44.536	1’42.514		49
2	16	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	1’46.608	1’43.484	1’42.527	0.013	48
3	4	Lando Norris	McLaren-Mercedes	1’46.027	1’45.156	1’42.737	0.223	58
4	81	Oscar Piastri	McLaren-Mercedes	1’46.282	1’43.983	1’42.749	0.235	57
5	1	Max Verstappen	Red Bull-Honda RBPT	1’45.546	1’44.029	1’42.862	0.348	61
6	55	Carlos Sainz Jnr	Ferrari	1’46.173	1’43.950	1’42.968	0.454	63
7	11	Sergio Perez	Red Bull-Honda RBPT	1’45.922	1’43.490	1’43.024	0.510	56
8	23	Alexander Albon	Williams-Mercedes	1’47.955	1’44.737	1’43.194	0.680	56
9	43	Franco Colapinto	Williams-Mercedes	1’47.901	1’44.749	1’43.238	0.724	50
10	44	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	1’45.859	1’43.550	1’43.301	0.787	54
11	14	Fernando Alonso	Aston Martin-Mercedes	1’46.452	1’44.683	1’43.474	0.960	59
12	22	Yuki Tsunoda	RB-Honda RBPT	1’47.708	1’44.645	1’43.503	0.989	49
13	18	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin-Mercedes	1’47.184	1’44.093	1’43.571	1.057	58
14	3	Daniel Ricciardo	RB-Honda RBPT	1’46.687	1’45.056	1’43.870	1.356	67
15	10	Pierre Gasly	Alpine-Renault	1’48.712	1’45.391	1’43.876	1.362	58
16	27	Nico Hulkenberg	Haas-Ferrari	1’47.135	1’44.475	1’44.164	1.650	57
17	77	Valtteri Bottas	Sauber-Ferrari	1’47.640	1’44.785	1’44.187	1.673	46
18	50	Oliver Bearman	Haas-Ferrari	1’46.973	1’44.547	No time	2.033	49
19	24	Zhou Guanyu	Sauber-Ferrari	1’49.052	1’45.947	1’44.869	2.355	64
20	31	Esteban Ocon	Alpine-Renault	No time	1’45.810	No time	3.296	28