We had to wait an extra 15 minutes, but Saturday at the Azerbaijan GP was officially under way with the final free practice session at the Baku City Circuit. We will likely see qualifying delayed by 15 minutes, because the regulations state there has to be a two hour gap between the end of Practice Three and qualifying.
Charles Leclerc looked to be enjoying this Baku Street Circuit once again today as he set a lovely 1:45.260 straight out of the box. He went over a second quicker than his teammate and nearly two second quicker than George Russell.
“Yes he’s been knocked a bit, but I think he’s so eager within the team to really get them to produce the goods that they need to,” Johnny Herbert noted about Charles Leclerc.
It was a slightly concerning start to the session for Lewis Hamilton. His first lap is 0.7s slower than George Russell’s best effort, which had put the Mercedes third. Soon after, Sergio Perez did his first lap for Red Bull, and went straight into second, 0.2s back from the Monegasque driver. Carlos Sainz briefly went to the top of the timesheet with a 1:44.744, putting him +0.516s ahead of his teammate Charles. Yet the Monegasque driver hit straight back with the fastest lap of the session. But Sergio Perez wasn’t letting that Ferrari lead last for long and put himself on top with a 1:44.416, +0.245 quicker than Charles and +0.328 quicker than Carlos.
We had two Red Bulls at the top of the timesheet and Ferrari didn’t appear to like it: after a little adjustment, the red cars returned to the track and re-establish a one-two of their own. Both Red Bull cars then improved to move ahead of Carlos Sainz, but for now they remain behind Charles Leclerc. Max Verstappen was a little more than a tenth behind the Ferrari, while Sergio Perez was nearly 0.4s back.
It was shaping up to be another enthralling qualifying session later this afternoon!
Most of the cars were then back in the pits as they made some final set up changes before the last 20 minutes of this final practice session.
It was quicker again for Charles Leclerc as he set a 1:43.240, but a yellow flag hampered the other divers’ first attempts at a flying lap. Valtteri Bottas was the man who went off track after locking up, in the same place Lando Norris did yesterday, and was forced to try and find the right settings to perform a three-point turn and get back on track.
After the yellow flag moment, a brilliant lap from Sergio Perez who went quickest by seven hundredths of a second, setting a 1:43.170. His teammate didn’t have the best first sector and so couldn’t improve his time and dropped down to third, sitting two tenths off his teammate. Charles Leclerc was trying to retake top spot from Sergio Perez, but it went wrong in the second sector as he locks up and has to bail out.
On the other hand, after setting the fastest first sector, Max Verstappen rounded the corner and was met by the Alpine of Esteban Ocon, causing him to pull out of his flying lap, expressing his frustration over the team radio after traffic on track
It was a double practice top spot for Sergio Perez as he finished top of the timesheet in P1 and P3. He had some momentum from Monaco that has certainly given him some confidence heading into this track that he loves.
Charles Leclerc finished in second, with Max Verstappen in third and Carlos Sainz in fourth.
McLaren will be happy with that final practice session, finishing in the ‘best of the rest’ spots, Norris in fifth and Ricciardo in sixth.
Mercedes settle for eighth and 12th and we are set for what should be a close Qualifying!
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